Mizanur Rahman
Aslam Hossain achieved 49th place in 14th Non-Government Teachers Registration and Certification Authority (NTRCA) examination. He joined Bangabandhu College, Fulbari, Dinajpur on February in 2019 as a Lecturer in Sociology. To date, the lecturer is languishing with no salary, bonus or not even any assistance from the prime minister’s stimulus package.
“Actually, my father, who is a farmer, mobilised some money by mortgaging our land to another farm owner. I tried to manage my pocket money from the rent of the leased land till March last year. But that too is now exhausted and I have no way to manage my living cost including house rent even if my college resumes its educational activities,” Aslam expressed deep concern.
After the closure, Aslam came back home at Dhunat Upazila in Bogura sadar and started living in a joint family with his aged parents. Now he is struggling to meet up his daily expenses from tuition, although the facility remained closed for six months since March last year when the country landed in lingering lockdown. Aslam also has a law degree and tried to make a living from dabbling in the law profession. But due to the high surge of Covid-19 infections, the legal profession is also experiencing client dearth and low income. On top of that, the court is running virtually, there is limited chance of assistantship for Aslam to get some extra money.
There are 18 teachers working at Bangabandhu College. Everybody has their stories of struggle and Aslam is no exception to this. Though they are lucky enough, the government nationalised 28 institutions including their college last year. They are hoping to get a salary from government coffer within this year but for now, there is no way forward in this lockdown.
But Monir Hossain is doing a private job for his livelihood, he is a teacher at Barguna New Model College.
Unwilling to disclose which company now he is serving as part-time staff, Monir said, “I am not living in my workstation — Barguna and I attend my college irregularly. I have to do an alternative job for earning money for my family. Though my college paid some Tk 1500 to my part-time colleagues, I didn’t anything as I am waiting to be listed in Monthly Pay Order.”
But non-MPO permanent teachers did not get any salary since their appointment. He is just waiting for MPO facility, then he will settle there permanently.
Shafiqul Islam, Vice President of the Non-MPO Educational Institutions' Teachers and Employees Federation, told The Business Post, “We came to know from mass media that the education ministry has sent a proposal to the Cabinet Division for a special allocation to non-MPO teachers and staffers. The proposal is now sent to the Prime Minister’s Office for consideration. But we heard that secondary and higher secondary level would receive allocation before Eid vacation but technical and madrasa level institutes would not get the money.”
“As a teacher, I don't wish to receive any special allocation instead of MPO facility. The government announced the last MPO on January 23, 2019. The govt also promised that it will announce another MPO list within one month, but not complied,” he added.
Shafiqul Islam, a teacher working at the KBM High School at Kachubari in Thakurgaon Sadar Upazila, said, “As maximum non-MPO institutions survive on the tuition fees from students, so the school has no sufficient funds to provide remuneration to the staffers. Except some of the institutions established in the city area, all of the non-MPO institutions are sufferings with same financial condition.”
“A hand few of our faculty members need to do another job,” he added.
Education minister Dipu Moni did not respond to repeated phone calls.
Last year, the government allocated Tk 46.63 crore as financial assistance to weather the lockdown-induced economic hardship to 80,747 teachers and 25,038 staffers who are not on the MPO list. Most teachers received Tk 5,000 under this package, while a staffer got Tk 2,500 but a section was left out of the package.
Considering hardship, the education ministry sent a proposal to the Prime Minister's Office seeking a one-time allocation for the non-MPO institutions. According to Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics (BANBEIS), a total number of 9494 non-MPO institutions applied for MPO status in 2019 while the government gave MPO to 2642.
All educational institutions across the country remained closed on March 17 last year due to Covid-19. Schools, colleges and universities remained closed with some academic activities being conducted online. The pandemic pushed all educational institutions to remain closed. However, prime minister Sheikh Hasina on April 27 said all educational institutions might stay closed until September if the coronavirus situation does not improve.
