Staff Reporter :
The Education Ministry on Sunday transferred 29 of its senior officials amid widespread criticism over the failure of the ministry’s administration to check the question paper leakage in public examinations and other irregularities.
Earlier, educationists, civil society leaders and guardians demanded resignation of the Education Minister and top bosses of the ministry blaming that they had failed to check the repeated leakage of question papers posing a serious threat to the country’s education sector.
On Sunday, the ministry transferred the senior officials of the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) general education cadre to different places of the country.
The Secondary and Higher Education Division of the Education Ministry issued a notification in this regard on Wednesday.
The officials are assistant personal secretary to Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, the college inspector and university inspector of Dhaka Education Board, the department director, deputy director and assistant director of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE), officials of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) and the Directorate of the Inspection and Audit (DIA).
DSHE Director (Monitoring and Evaluation Wing) Md Selim, Deputy Director (Accounts and Audit) Md Fazle Elahi, Deputy Director (College-2) Md Mesbah Uddin Sarkar, Deputy Director SM Kamal Uddin, Deputy Director Md Shafiqul Islam, Assistant Director Zakir Hossain, Deputy Director KM Rashedul Hasan and Assistant Director Mohammad Delwar Hossain have been transferred outside Dhaka.
Dhaka Education Board College Inspector Ashfaqul Salehin, University Inspector ATM Moinul Hossain, Deputy Secretary Mohammad Nazmul Haque, Deputy Exam Controller Masuda Begum, Deputy Director Mannath Ranjan Baroi and former Assistant Personal Secretary to the Education Minister and Deputy Exam Director Aditya Kumar Ray have also been moved out of Dhaka.
NCTB Secretary Dilruba Ahmed and experts Fatema Nasima Akhtar, Monira Begum and Shaheenara Begum have also been transferred.
NCTB Science Officers Marufa Begum, Md Habibullah, Mohammad Shah Alam, Production Regulator Md Abdul Mazid and DIA Assistant Education Director Md Kawser Hossain have also been replaced by the ministry.
An official from the ministry told The New Nation that some education officials had used their influence to hold on their positions in Dhaka. Some of them had allegedly been involved in financial corruption.
Another official wishing anonymity told this correspondent that the ministry’s high-ups found that the transferred officials were involved in many irregularities, including question paper leakage.
“The officials have tarnished the image of the Education Ministry. Some of them are directly involved in many irregularities. That is why the ministry has taken the decision,” he said.
The ministry is also making a list to transfer more unscrupulous officials who are involved in the different anomalies, ministry sources said.
Professor Syed Anwar Hossain of Dhaka University’s History Department told The New Nation, “The ministry should be reshuffled to restore its image and to save the country’s education sector from different evil forces.”
“I am very happy to hear the transfer news of the Education Ministry officials. But it is not enough to make it okay. Transfer all the unscrupulous officials and also bring them under justice for the irregularities,” he said.
Syed Manzoorul Islam of Dhaka University’s English Department said that a nexus between government employees, coaching centres, guidebook businesses, political activists and some teachers was behind the questions being leaked.
“It is good initiative that the dishonest officials have been transferred. It will bring good result if the ministry continues the drive against the unscrupulous officials,” he said.
Earlier on January 23, the Education Ministry suspended Personal Officer (PO) to the Education Minister Motaleb Hossain and an Upper Division Assistant (UDA) of the ministry Md Nasiruddin for their involvement in taking bribes.
Motaleb Hossain went missing from the capital on January 20 and Md Nasiruddin was out of trace since January 18.
However, Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) arrested on January 21 them from different areas of the city.
