New Era | Lawmakers sharply criticize corruption in Bangladesh’s education sector in JS

The Jatiya Party and independent parliamentarians said at the Jatiya Sangsad on Sunday that the education sector in Bangladesh was grappling with widespread irregularities, corruption and discrimination.

During their speech on the motions to withdraw the funding application for the Department of Secondary and Higher Education for the fiscal year 2024-2025, they said that nothing happens in the sector without bribery.

Md Hamidul Haque Khandker of Kurigram-2 district said that the allocation for education has always been less than the GDP target.

Mentioning institutional and regional disparities in the sector, he said that field education officers work for five to seven years in the same job and engage in various types of irregularities and corruption.

Pankaj Nath from Barisal-4 district said that the recruitment of teachers through the Non-Government Teacher Registration and Certification Authority is commendable. However, if someone from Chilmari in Kurigram is appointed in Mehendiganj in Barisal, he will not join.

“There are bigger problems in hilly areas. Due to this, even after the appointment of teachers, the education program gets disrupted. Regionalization of this recruitment should be considered. Vacancies among teachers and education officials must be filled quickly, he said.

He said the Supreme Court had banned lawmakers from serving as presidents of committees managing educational institutions.

He said that parliamentarians had talked about it many times, and the Minister of Education announced that the government would appeal.

“I don’t know whether he appealed the High Court decision or not. If he is a minister today,” he said.

According to Jatiya Party MP Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, the education system has undergone a drastic change.

Buildings have been constructed, but the quality of education has not changed, he said.

He said that to include MPO, you have to go to different tables. The table step by step means corruption step by step.

Abul Kalam of Natore-1 district said corruption is everywhere. “There is widespread corruption in education. It can’t be expressed in words,” he said.

“No teacher will get a pension if he or she has no money,” he added.

Nasser Shahriar Zahedi from Jhenaidah-2 constituency proposed reducing administrative expenditure and increasing spending on educational research.

Education Minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhury said it was true that many people living in remote places did not join.

“Recruitment of teachers through NTRCA is recommended in view of the Supreme Court orders… This is a hurdle which we are trying to remove by amending the law,” he said.

Referring to the chairmanship of the governing body of parliaments in educational institutions, the minister said that a Supreme Court judgment had been passed in the case of the chairman of the governing body of parliaments in colleges affiliated to the National University.

“Thanks to this, parliamentarians do not become presidents. We have already taken steps to appeal against this decision,” he said.

However, the minister did not comment on the allegations of corruption in the education sector.