bdnews24.com :
Irregularities have been exposed at Viqarunnisa Noon School and College (VNSC), a famed 60-year-old private school in Dhaka, following the suicide of student Aritry Adhikary.
A panel formed by the Ministry of Education has found irregularities adopted by the governing body and the administration of the school, many of which were backed up by several guardians and teachers.
Teachers and guardians have also informed bdnews24.com of some other irregularities at the school, but most of them did not want to be named. Golam Ashraf Talukdar, chief of the school’s governing body, claimed that all of the school’s activities were within the scope of the law. The true picture of Viqarunnisa school will come out and we will make the people aware of the issues, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid had said citing the data provided by the panel, earlier on Wednesday, two days after Aretry took her own life over alleged ‘humiliation’ at the hands of the teachers. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid speaks to the students during his visit to Viqarunnisa Noon School and College in Dhaka after the suicide of Aritry Adhikary on Tuesday.
“We’ll expose them,” Nahid said. The school was inaugurated by by the then West Pakistan Governor Feroz Khan Noon’s wife Viqarunnisa Noon on Jan 14, 1952 at Dhaka’s Bailey Road. The school has a history of performing well on public exams and currently has more than 17,000 students studying in it. The school has expanded to other campuses in addition to the one on Bailey Road. Many people began to discuss irregularities at the school after Aritry, a student in
class nine at the Bailey Road branch, committed suicide last Monday.
Aretry was spotted with a mobile phone during her exam and the principal called her parents over and allegedly ‘humiliated’ them. It is believed this led the teenager to end her life. The school authority claimed Aritry was caught cheating on her mobile phone during the final examinations on Sunday. Two separate probe committees were formed by the education ministry and the Viqarunnisa Noon School and College to investigate the incident. The education minister shared the report from the panel with journalists on Wednesday.
“The school did not have a principal for a long time, only an acting principal. They have not followed our repeated directives to appoint one. This is also an act of irregularity,” the minister said in the context of the report. All three principals at the school since July 2011 were acting principals. One of them, Hosne Ara Begum had to resign on Jul 13, 2011 amidst protests triggered by teacher Parimal Joydhar being charged of ‘rape.’
Manju Ara Begum took over as the acting principal and retired on Dec 11, 2011. The governing body again appointed an acting principal.
Acting Principal Sufia Khatun took over on Dec 12 that year and retired on Jul 3 in 2017.
This led to Acting Principal Nazneen Ferdous taking the post. She was later been fired after the death of Aritry.
Aritry’s father has filed a case against Ferdous and other two teachers for provoking Aritry to commit suicide.
The acting principals are never formally appointed as principals as the governing body wants to ‘exercise its power’, complained a Viqarunnisa teacher. “The governing body is the supreme power here. The acting principals are appointed so they can follow the directions by the governing body,” they told bdnews24.com, requesting to remain anonymous. Allegations that guardian representatives are spending a fortune to be elected to the governing body are also widely discussed. The panel formed by the education ministry found complaints against Nazneen Ferdous, who has been teaching in the school since 1990, of misbehaving with students and guardians. The principal and the morning shift in-charge have avoided meetings with guardians and have regularly misbehaved with them, the report said. Even when they managed to get meetings, the teachers were very rude, some guardians remarked during the investigation. The authority often threatens the students with issuing transfer certificates without counselling or consulting the students and guardians, they said.
“We never had access to Nazneen but Sufia Khatun was cooperative,” Dilara Chowdhury, a guardian told bdnews24.com. Guardians are rebuked or threatened if they raise their voice against the governing body or the school authority, Dilara said.
Irregularities have been exposed at Viqarunnisa Noon School and College (VNSC), a famed 60-year-old private school in Dhaka, following the suicide of student Aritry Adhikary.
A panel formed by the Ministry of Education has found irregularities adopted by the governing body and the administration of the school, many of which were backed up by several guardians and teachers.
Teachers and guardians have also informed bdnews24.com of some other irregularities at the school, but most of them did not want to be named. Golam Ashraf Talukdar, chief of the school’s governing body, claimed that all of the school’s activities were within the scope of the law. The true picture of Viqarunnisa school will come out and we will make the people aware of the issues, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid had said citing the data provided by the panel, earlier on Wednesday, two days after Aretry took her own life over alleged ‘humiliation’ at the hands of the teachers. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid speaks to the students during his visit to Viqarunnisa Noon School and College in Dhaka after the suicide of Aritry Adhikary on Tuesday.
“We’ll expose them,” Nahid said. The school was inaugurated by by the then West Pakistan Governor Feroz Khan Noon’s wife Viqarunnisa Noon on Jan 14, 1952 at Dhaka’s Bailey Road. The school has a history of performing well on public exams and currently has more than 17,000 students studying in it. The school has expanded to other campuses in addition to the one on Bailey Road. Many people began to discuss irregularities at the school after Aritry, a student in
class nine at the Bailey Road branch, committed suicide last Monday.
Aretry was spotted with a mobile phone during her exam and the principal called her parents over and allegedly ‘humiliated’ them. It is believed this led the teenager to end her life. The school authority claimed Aritry was caught cheating on her mobile phone during the final examinations on Sunday. Two separate probe committees were formed by the education ministry and the Viqarunnisa Noon School and College to investigate the incident. The education minister shared the report from the panel with journalists on Wednesday.
“The school did not have a principal for a long time, only an acting principal. They have not followed our repeated directives to appoint one. This is also an act of irregularity,” the minister said in the context of the report. All three principals at the school since July 2011 were acting principals. One of them, Hosne Ara Begum had to resign on Jul 13, 2011 amidst protests triggered by teacher Parimal Joydhar being charged of ‘rape.’
Manju Ara Begum took over as the acting principal and retired on Dec 11, 2011. The governing body again appointed an acting principal.
Acting Principal Sufia Khatun took over on Dec 12 that year and retired on Jul 3 in 2017.
This led to Acting Principal Nazneen Ferdous taking the post. She was later been fired after the death of Aritry.
Aritry’s father has filed a case against Ferdous and other two teachers for provoking Aritry to commit suicide.
The acting principals are never formally appointed as principals as the governing body wants to ‘exercise its power’, complained a Viqarunnisa teacher. “The governing body is the supreme power here. The acting principals are appointed so they can follow the directions by the governing body,” they told bdnews24.com, requesting to remain anonymous. Allegations that guardian representatives are spending a fortune to be elected to the governing body are also widely discussed. The panel formed by the education ministry found complaints against Nazneen Ferdous, who has been teaching in the school since 1990, of misbehaving with students and guardians. The principal and the morning shift in-charge have avoided meetings with guardians and have regularly misbehaved with them, the report said. Even when they managed to get meetings, the teachers were very rude, some guardians remarked during the investigation. The authority often threatens the students with issuing transfer certificates without counselling or consulting the students and guardians, they said.
“We never had access to Nazneen but Sufia Khatun was cooperative,” Dilara Chowdhury, a guardian told bdnews24.com. Guardians are rebuked or threatened if they raise their voice against the governing body or the school authority, Dilara said.
