Over 9,000 jobseekers have been waiting for the final results of their viva voce for recruitment to a project run by the Bureau of Non-formal Education (BNFE), due to delay on the bureau’s part in finalising the key component of the project. The candidates passed the written test held in late 2019 and faced the viva-voce in different phases in January last year for the post of Upazila/urban programme coordinator (UPC) under the Out of School Children Education Programme (OSCE). The programme is designed to ensure education for children aged 8-14 years who could not be enrolled in schools or dropped out. Around Tk 3,200 crore was allocated for the programme, which was supposed to run from 2018 to 2023.
Initially, the programme was planned to provide education to around 931,000 such out of students through 31,000 learning centres in 61 districts. A total of 53 NGOs have been appointed Implementation Support Agencies by BNFE to run these centres. The bureau published a vacancy announcement on June 30, 2019 to recruit the UPCs. The Institute of Education and Research (IER) of DU was appointed the consultant to administer the exam. Over 24,000 candidates applied for the posts. The written and viva examinations were completed by January 25 last year, but the final results of the viva-voce did not come out even after 23 months. Now, neither IER nor BNFE takes responsibility to publish the results and appoint the successful aspirants.
As per the project requirement, BNFE formed five-member committees at every ward in 61 districts. In 2019, these committees were tasked with making the list of eligible students. The bureau has asked committees to further verify the list and submit a verified final list, which has not been completed in the last two years. This implies the BNFE has no clear idea how to assign job responsibilities, set up transparency and supervisory mechanisms – some basics for project management. Before starting the project, we see the project planning is the worst and its possible outcome will be a big zero. We would say the government must redesign the project proposal, its terms of reference and other basic structures before disbursing public money which should not go waste.
