A WORLD Bank scheme that has doubled the number of girls from poor and rural families going to secondary schools is to be extended for another five years.

The pound;100 million scheme provides a financial incentive for families to send girls to secondary school rather than arranging teenage marriages for them.

Small monthly stipends, ranging from 25 to 60 Taka (31p to 73p), depending on the pupil’s age, are paid into accounts at the Agrani Bank.

The accounts are controlled by the girls, not their families.

Tuition fees are paid directly to the overwhelmingly independent Bangla-deshi secondary school sector, and grants are made for books and exam fees.

The current scheme will also see money spent on teacher training and administrative improvements.

Most of the pound;100m comes in the form of an interest-free loan of pound;84.7m from the World Bank. The remainding pound;17.3m will be provided by the Bangladesh government and local communities.

Since the World Bank launched its initial stipendiary programme in 1994, female secondary enrolment in project areas, which cover around 5,000 schools, has soared from 462,000 to more than a million pupils.

“It has been incredible,” said bank task leader Ana Maria Jeria. “One of the risks was a conservative or religious backlash in communities, but none materialised. It has been a revolution.”

She said that, in many areas, schools that had either been totally or predominantly for boys were now accepting many girl pupils.

“There has been social acceptance, and there’s no going back,” said Ms Jeria.

The test of whether this social sea change can last will come in 2007, when the Bangladeshi government intends to start “targeting” assistance to particularly talented poor girls.