Dhaka: Hoping to catch children young and curb the drop-out rate, the Bangladesh government will for the first time introduce pre-primary education in its schools from January.

Measures have been taken to recruit 37,000 teachers in all its primary schools to harness children above five years.

"It will help reduce school-phobia among the kids as well as create interest about education," said Abu Alam Mohammad Shahid Khan, secretary of the primary and mass education ministry.

A majority of children in rural areas do not get the opportunity to prepare for primary schools at homes as a large number of their guardians are illiterate.

This would be the first formal start of pre-school education in country's 37,672 government primary schools. Privately run schools, including NGO-operated educational institutions, already offer such schooling across the country, Khan told The Daily Star newspaper.

The literacy rate in Bangladesh is approximately 41 percent. IANS