Editorial
Editorial

Corruption in education: Listen to the MPs at least

When there’s a whole fiasco going on in the country centering the corruption of current and former officials of government’s revenue and police department, several members of the parliament (MP)s raised the issue of corruption in the education sector on the day of the budget for 2024-25 fiscal being passed in the parliament.

When local and foreign research organisations or the media present data and facts about corruption, policy makers of the government don’t want to consider this at all. But, the opposition and independent members of parliament have criticised the corruption in education sector right at the national parliament this time. The independent MPs are part of the ruling party.

With mention of the extensive corruption in education sector, independent MP from Natore-1 Abul Kalam claimed that none of the teachers are receiving pension without bribing first. Nothing comes for free. He also demanded suitable employment for the graduates and prost-graduate youths.

The more interest the government has in establishing universities in every district, the less they are concerned about strengthening the base of primary and secondary level education.

Jatiya Party MP Hafiz Uddin Ahmed said that people have to move from one table to another for MPO enlistment. A series of tables means a series of corruption. Giving example of his own constituency, he said that there are 43 classrooms in a government school there. However only five of them are used for classes!

Independent MP from Jhenaidah-2 Nasser Shahrear Zahedee proposed to increase allocation in educational research by cutting down on the administrative expenditure. Another independent MP, Hamidul Haque Khandoker from Kurigram-2 said that the irregularities, corruption and disparity in the education system seem to never end.

The more interest the government has in establishing universities in every district, the less they are concerned about strengthening the base of primary and secondary level education. The custodians of the education system are failing to comprehend that if the base is not solid watering the tip will amount to nothing.

About three years ago, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) had conducted a research on the country’s education sector. It came up with the finding that it takes a bribe of Tk 5,000 up to Tk 1.5 million (15 lakh) for different approvals including MPO enlistment, appointment, transfer and teaching permission in this country in secondary education.

And the bribes are collected by concerned government officers, managing committees of the educational institutes and by local political leaders.   

The national education policy announced in 2010 had mentioned bringing structural modification to the educational administration. Plus, launching a curriculum that can meet the demand of the modern time and appointing capable teachers had been emphasised.

Though different experiments have been run on the curriculum and on the question patterns after that, the successive downfall of the education quality couldn’t still be prevented.

MPO enlistment of educational institutes remains suspended at present. However, the grave accusations of bribery and corruption regarding MPO-enlistment that had been brought earlier are needed to be investigated.

Bangladesh has the lowest rate of allocation in education sector among all the countries of South Asia. If that low allocation is misappropriated too, how will the miseries of the education sector end?

One of the independent MPs has expressed their grudge for not being given the post of chairman in an educational institute. However, they also have to give answers for the amount of corruption the parliament members have committed from being in these posts.

Bangladesh has the lowest rate of allocation in education sector among all the countries of South Asia. If that low allocation is misappropriated too, how will the miseries of the education sector end? There’s no alternative to ending bribery and corruption in education if this sector has to be saved.  

After the TIB report was published, the then deputy minister of education Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury terming the corruption in educational administration as a challenge had emphasised on bringing structural changes there. He is the minister of education now. So, he’s the one who will have to find the way how to restrain corruption in the education sector.

Even if you don’t pay heed to others, listen to the parliament members at least.