DHAKA, June 15 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank approved 700 million U.S. dollars on Friday to improve the primary education in Bangladesh.

The Quality Learning for All Program (QLEAP) will benefit more than 18 million children studying in pre-primary level to grade 5. It will finance implementation of the government's Fourth Primary Education Development Program (PEDP4), the Washington-based lender said in a statement.

The project will help improve quality and equitable access to primary education. It will help assess and improve learning outcomes for Bangla and mathematics for Grade 3 students.

"At birth in 1971, Bangladesh had a very low education base. From there, the country has made remarkable progress in improving access to education. Today almost every child steps into a classroom and 8 out of 10 children complete primary education," said Qimiao Fan, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.

The project will bring about one million out-of-school children to learning centers that would follow national curriculum, and thus help them integrate with the formal education system. It will also build about 95,000 classrooms, teachers' rooms, and multipurpose rooms to ensure international standard students-to-classroom ratio.

"A major thrust of the project will be to improve school management system and provide professional growth for teachers," said Syed Rashed Al Zayed, World Bank Team Leader for the project.

"The financing will help ensure strong governance, adequate and equitable financing, and good management of the primary education system in Bangladesh."