Dhaka, Nov. 7 -- The World Bank has approved a $300 million loan to improve the quality of primary education in Bangladesh.

The money will go towards building basic reading, writing and maths skills among 26 million children from pre-primary to Class 5, the lender said in a statement on Friday.

It will also back the government's fifth primary education development programme, under the Learning Enhancement and Acceleration in Primary Education Programme.

The bank's board cleared the loan at its Washington headquarters. It is equal to about Tk 37.35 billion at Tk 124.5 per dollar.

The funds come from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank Group's arm for concessional financing to low-income countries.

Repayment...