Sagar Biswas :Government has taken decision to bring all the private, public educational institutions under the scanner of intelligence agencies apparently to address the militancy problem when several students have reportedly been joined in different Islamist terrorist outfits. At the same time, the government has also instructed the concerned agencies to bring teachers of educational institutions under round-the-clock surveillance, officials said on Tuesday. The government will also conduct a massive awareness programme in the Bengali and English medium educational institutions across the country involving the teachers, administrative officials and guardians to expose the dreadfulness of militancy. As per its strategy, the Ministry of Education has called a meeting with the heads and representatives of country’s public universities on July 23 at International Mother Language Institute under Dhaka University. The Vice-Chancellors, presidents and general secretaries of teachers’ associations, 3/4 teachers, president and secretary of Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers Associations have been urged to attend the meeting. Home Minister Asaduzzamn Khan Kamal will address the meeting as chief guest when Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid will be in the chair. In the meeting, the ministerswill focus the government’s latest stance about the militancy issue, officials said. “The government has taken initiatives to save students from the clutch of militancy. Same types of meetings will be held with all educational institutions throughout the country accordingly,” Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said. The Minister said: “The teachers and administrative staffs will also be brought under close surveillance. We’ll see what they are teaching and what their activities are.” Earlier, the Ministry of Home with cooperation of Education Ministry has called another meeting with private universities and English medium schools on July 17 at Krishibid Institution in the city. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid will address the meeting while Home Minister will preside over the meeting. All the Vice-Chancellors, members of Trustee Boards, Principals, Head Masters, Managing Committee members and representatives of teachers-students have been invited in the meeting. The issue of militancy involvement of the students of some English medium schools and private universities has come into light when several students of the private-run North South University [NSU] were found involved with two deadly terrorist attacks, one at Gulshan and another at Sholakia. “The attacker who died after killing police personnel near Sholakia Eidgah was also a student of NSU. What are they teaching there? Actions must be taken against them,” Health Minister Mohammad Nasim said recently. Raising a call for forming anti-terrorism committees at every village and town, Nasim further said, “Imams of mosques and school teachers should be made head of the committees comprising people of all classes.” Apart from NSU, several high-profile educational institutions, such as Scholastica, Turkish Hope and BRAC University have earned blame for nourishing the students who are allegedly involved in terrorist activities. Not only that, a number of students of public varsities, including Chittagong University, Rajshahi University and Islamic University, earlier were arrested by the law enforcement agencies for their alleged link with militant outfits. “If any students stay absent in the educational institution for ten days, it should be informed to his guardians. It will also be informed to government in written. Here, the guardians will have to take responsibilities. We’ve sent notice to all educational institutions asking the heads to take it seriously,” the Education Minister said.
