BANGLADESH’S secondary education sector is mired in various forms of corruption and irregularities, including illegal financial transactions in appointing school teachers, their transfer, and inclusion in the Monthly Pay Order (MPO) benefits. The money goes to the pockets of local political leaders, governing bodies and school management committee members, a study of the Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) reveals.
The graft watchdog stated that unauthorised financial transactions between Tk 3.5 lakh and Tk 15 lakh take place for the appointment of a head teacher or an assistant head teacher of a school. This is just a slew of irregularities found in various areas at the secondary education level. Although there is an online process for non-government teachers to apply for MPO benefits, they still “have to pay money” at four stages, the TIB report made the findings public at a discussion on Wednesday. Under the MPO scheme, the government pays teachers of non-government schools 100 percent of their basic salaries.
There were also allegations that 1,577 teachers were recruited as assistant teachers using fake teacher registration certificates, counterfeit certificates of computer proficiency and other false academic certificates between 2013 and February 2020. Lack of good governance, transparency and accountability in the secondary education sector were also witnessed. When the E-GP (Electronic Government Procurement) is widely used in government procurement, it has not been introduced in the secondary education sector as yet. As a result, irregularities and corruption are going on, which is a real concern and is becoming a major obstacle to building a knowledge-based society.
It may be noted that nearly 11 years have passed since the formulation of the National Education Policy, but many important issues have not been settled yet and progress of work to draft an education law is not at the expected level. The formation of a teacher recruitment commission to appoint non-government teachers creating scope for their promotion needs to be addressed efficiently. Though the authorities have taken many initiatives, including setting up multimedia classrooms and digital labs, there are loopholes in implementing the projects. There is an urgent need for proper planning of secondary education in the light of the education policy, and its proper implementation.
