Zahid Hasan of Pirojpur had passed the recruitment examination for the post of assistant teacher in government primary schools with good results. Among the 83 candidates recommended for appointment in Mathbaria upazila of the district, Zahid ranked 54th. He had also received the final recommendation for appointment.
However, while many others received appointment letters, Zahid did not. He suspects that he was dropped during the verification process. Zahid, who has a physical disability and was eligible for a quota, told Prothom Alo that after hearing that he had not received an appointment letter, his mother started crying and his father was devastated.
Zahid is not the only one. Hundreds of job candidates like him have allegedly been excluded in the name of verification. Sources say that, in addition to the police, an intelligence agency was involved in carrying out the verification.
Meanwhile, an alliance of candidates who received final recommendations for appointment as assistant teachers at primary schools says it has information that appointments have been made in 55 of the 61 districts.
More than 2,700 candidates have reportedly been excluded. It should be noted that recruitment in the three hill districts is carried out through the respective district councils. As of 9:00 pm last Saturday, appointment lists for six districts had not yet been published.
It was not possible to independently verify whether the claim that more than 2,700 candidates had been excluded was accurate. However, Prothom Alo collected information from the offices of primary education officers in 11 districts and found that 554 candidates had been excluded in those districts. The districts are Mymensingh, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Jhalokathi, Nilphamari, Kushtia, Jamalpur, Moulvibazar, Chandpur, Narail and Sunamganj.
Based on the results of the 2025 assistant teacher recruitment examination, 14,384 people were finally recommended for appointment in 61 districts. They were scheduled to join their posts on 1 October. Before that, on 24 September, the district primary education offices published the lists of those selected for appointment.
It was then that information emerged about people whose names were missing from the lists. No information was available on the total number of people to whom appointment letters had actually been sent.
Some of those who did not receive jobs posted on social media saying that they had not received appointment letters.
Public administration experts say that, under normal rules, a candidate may be considered unsuitable for appointment if they have a criminal case against them or information exists linking them to a criminal offense.
In practice, however, political affiliations of candidates and their family members and relatives are sometimes investigated in the name of verification, and positive or negative comments about appointment decisions are made on that basis.
This practice existed during the Awami League government, which was ousted following the July mass uprising. It did not end during the interim government and is also being seen under the current government.
Abdul Kader, a former coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement that led the July mass uprising, told Prothom Alo that the mass uprising had taken place precisely against such injustices and that recruitment was supposed to be based on merit and qualifications. He said that political considerations even in the recruitment of primary school teachers are an ominous sign.
There are 65,567 government primary schools in the country, with more than 10 million students. There are around 375,000 teachers. More than 36,000 headmaster positions are vacant, while several thousand assistant teacher positions are also vacant.
Under the current recruitment rules, 80 per cent of headmaster positions in primary schools are filled through promotion of assistant teachers, while 20 per cent are filled through direct recruitment.
However, a legal case had been pending over the recruitment of headmasters. The High Court resolved the issue in a judgment in July last year. Subsequently, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education announced that the process of promoting teachers to headmaster positions would begin.
Meanwhile, the recruitment process for assistant teachers began during the interim government. At the very end of that government’s tenure, on 8 February, the final results of the assistant teacher recruitment process were published.
In some cases, successful candidates did not receive appointment letters because they failed to submit the required documents. For example, 259 people were finally recommended for appointment in Mymensingh district.
Of them, 217 appear on the appointment list or have received appointment letters. In other words, 42 did not receive appointment letters. Mymensingh District Primary Education Officer Shafiqul Islam told Prothom Alo that 18 people had failed to submit the required documents within the stipulated period. They may not join the service. Apart from them, another 24 people did not receive appointment letters.
Sources say that a large number of recommended candidates did not receive appointment letters because of unfavourable comments from intelligence agencies.
On Saturday afternoon, Primary and Mass Education Minister A N M Ehsanul Hoque Milon posted a statement on Facebook. He said confusion was being created regarding the receipt of appointment letters.
In this context, he said that if any successful candidate had not received an appointment letter by 1 October, the matter would subsequently be properly reviewed and appointment letters would be sent in phases as quickly as possible. He further said that verification/vetting is a regular process in the recruitment of government officers and employees.
How verification is conducted
The practice of conducting background checks through the police and intelligence agencies during recruitment and promotion in government service is an old one. It began during the British period. At that time, political affiliations of job candidates were primarily investigated as a means of suppressing the anti-British movement.
The practice was not discontinued after independence. Sources said that police verification mainly involves checking various pieces of information provided in prescribed forms.
This includes whether the person has ever been arrested, charged or convicted in any criminal, political or other case, as well as full details, including dates, if the person had been placed under surveillance or expelled from an institution or area.
In addition to police verification, information about candidates is also collected through intelligence agencies.
According to sources, partisan governments generally use verification by intelligence agencies to deprive supporters of opposition parties and views, as well as their family members and relatives, of government jobs, while ensuring the appointment of their own people. The politicisation of the public administration is also carried out through this verification process.
The Public Administration Reform Commission, formed during the interim government, recommended abolishing the practice of asking the police or any intelligence agency about a person’s political identity in matters of promotion. The commission said that politicisation of the public administration begins at this level.
The commission also recommended abolishing police verification of candidates before the results of written and oral examinations are announced.
The commission had said in its report that after a candidate passes the BCS examination, the Ministry of Public Administration should, before making the final appointment, seek a report from the police only on whether there is any criminal case against the candidate. If necessary, the ministry may also seek a report from the Anti-Corruption Commission.
During the interim government, it was announced that many candidates recommended by the Bangladesh Public Service Commission (PSC) from the 28th to the 42nd BCS had been denied appointments during the Awami League government. Of these, 259 were appointed during the interim government’s tenure.
However, allegations also arose during the interim government’s tenure that many candidates were excluded after being screened through intelligence agencies. For example, in January 2025, the Ministry of Public Administration issued a gazette appointing 1,896 candidates from the 43rd BCS. In that recruitment, 267 candidates who had been recommended by the PSC were excluded.
At the time, the Ministry of Public Administration said that intelligence agencies had made adverse comments regarding 227 candidates. For this reason, they were temporarily considered ineligible for appointment.
The remaining 40 candidates had not appeared for their medical examinations. The decision drew widespread criticism. The ministry subsequently said that if any of the 227 candidates deemed unsuitable for appointment applied for reconsideration, their applications would be accepted.
When contacted, Firoz Mia, a government service expert and former additional secretary, told Prothom Alo that there is no legal provision for intelligence agencies to submit reports on appointments and promotions in government service. In such cases, the police may conduct verification.
If the police find information that a candidate has committed a criminal offense, is a habitual or notorious offender, or has been involved in a similar offense, only then may the candidate be excluded. But, unfortunately, intelligence agencies have also been used for verification in recruitment and promotion processes in the past.
Firoz Mia said that the practice of excluding job candidates on political grounds based on intelligence agency reports creates disorder throughout the public administration. If this process is still continuing, he said, it cannot be considered a positive sign in any way.
They are worried
Employment opportunities are currently limited in the country. Government recruitment is not extensive, while the private sector is experiencing a downturn. At a time like this, many people are frustrated after being recommended for a government job but not receiving an appointment.
The post of assistant teacher falls under Grade 13 of the government pay scale. Under the new pay structure, the starting monthly salary, including allowances, will be at least around Tk 36,000. As a result, the job is considered attractive.
Some job candidates are worried after being excluded allegedly on the basis of intelligence agency reports. They fear that, for the same reason, they may not be able to secure any other government job in the future. They have not even been told why they were excluded.
A job candidate from Dinajpur, speaking to Prothom Alo on condition of anonymity, said that neither he nor anyone in his family is involved in politics. Nevertheless, he said he could not understand why he had been excluded. He added that he was also worried about his future and feared that he could face problems in obtaining other jobs as well.
[Information for this report was provided by Prothom Alo staff correspondents in Sunamganj, Moulvibazar and Kushtia; correspondents in Dinajpur, Narail, Chandpur, Jamalpur, Nilphamari, Jhalokathi and Rajshahi University; and a correspondent in Rangpur.]