AS per report of an English daily, the much disputed primary teachers’ selection process has further been tainted as the local AL leaders (of concerned districts) have made their presence felt by attending the viva Examinations in an unauthorised manner. Therefore, the essence of an unbiased and fair recruitment process seems non-existent, as the leaders have placed their weight in selecting candidates they support, sometimes for the exchange of large sums of money.
The already controversial recruitment process of selecting candidates for the posts of assistant teachers at government primary schools in 61 districts got more heat lately as some aggrieved candidates informed that some Awami League leaders were present and exerting pressure on candidates appearing for their oral examinations. Many allegations were raised that local leaders of the ruling Awami League were present at the viva examinations and influenced the viva board. In some cases, Awami League leaders prepared a list of candidates to be selected for the appointments. Final selection is supposed to be made on the basis of marks a candidate obtains in the 100-mark through written and viva, where 80 is allocated for written and other 20 marks for viva. According to the report, former vice-president of Barisal District Awami League admitted that he was present at the viva examinations, but he conveniently denied being ‘involved in any bribery or entertaining any request from any candidate’.
Similar incidents were reported from other districts including Bagerhat, Jhalakathi and Satkhira. The assistant primary teacher recruitment process has been the subject of much controversy since last year when 968,127 candidates took part in a written test and authorities cancelled the recruitment test due to question paper leakage. The Ministry later fixed dates for the retest and after much postponing, the written test took place early this year. The District Primary Education Officer of Bagerhat though admitted hearing of such list prepared by the local AL leaders, but the primary and mass education secretary denied any allegation of nepotism or corruption.
However, the continuing lack of concern from the government shows nothing but its passive acceptance of such illegal practices by ruling party members. This needs to change for a better future of our children where proper qualified teachers are appointed, regardless of their political affiliation and through a transparent recruitment system. But unfortunately, the non-existence of such political wills has turned the total recruitment procedure into a mess.
