Teachers suffer growing hardship as retirement payments stall

The suffering of teachers and employees in MPO-listed educational institutions to receive their retirement and welfare benefits is only getting worse. Instead of improving, the waiting time for their rightful payments is increasing.

Previously, it took around two years to receive retirement benefits; now the process is dragging on for three to four years. Whereas, the High Court has ordered that these payments must be made within six months.

Having served a lifetime in education, such prolonged delays in receiving their own due payments are causing deep frustration and resentment among teachers.

According to sources at the Ministry of Education, to resolve the crisis, education adviser professor CR Abrar sent a demi-official letter (DO letter) to finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed on 12 November. The letter explains the entire situation and requests an allocation of Tk 71.76 billion for retirement benefits and Tk 28.13 billion for the welfare trust.

In the letter, the education affairs adviser wrote that due to a severe fund shortage, the authorities are unable to provide retirement and welfare benefits to a large number of teachers and employees.

Elderly and critically ill teachers frequently come to the ministry seeking their entitled benefits for personal and family medical expenses, their children’s weddings and education, or to fulfil religious obligations in old age.

Many teachers die before receiving the benefits they earned. The ministry considers this inability to pay due benefits deeply distressing.

There are more than 500,000 MPO-listed teachers and employees in private educational institutions across the country. Their retirement and welfare benefits are disbursed through two separate entities.

Welfare benefits are paid through the Non-Government Teachers & Employee Welfare trust, while retirement benefits come from the Non-Government Teacher Employee Retirement Benefit Board.

Data from the Retirement Benefit Board shows that school-level teachers and employees have received the benefits for applications submitted up to August 2021. For college and madrasah level, applications submitted up to June 2021 have been settled. The rest are still pending. As of 30 June, a total of 64,775 applications for retirement benefits remained unresolved.

The situation at the Welfare Trust is similar. As of 24 November, 44,000 teachers and employees were waiting for their welfare funds. According to trust officials, applicants up to October 2022 have received payments.

Although paperwork for the following two months has been processed, disbursement is yet to be made.

Yesterday, Wednesday, at the retirement and welfare board office in Nilkhet–Palashi, retired teacher AKM Wadudur Rahman said, “I retired in January 2022. I applied for retirement and welfare benefits in June that year. But I still haven’t received the money.”

For retirement benefits, 6 per cent of the basic salary is deducted monthly from the salaries of teachers and employees. For welfare benefits, 4 per cent of the basic salary is deducted. In addition, each student pays Tk 100 per year—Tk 70 for retirement and Tk 30 for welfare. The remaining funds come from the government and interest generated from deposits.

According to the Retirement Board, the 6 per cent salary deduction generates around Tk 700 million per month. Fixed deposit interest provides another Tk 30 million. However, an average of 1,000 applications are submitted each month, requiring Tk 1.15 billion for settlement.

Sources at the Education Ministry state that in the 2025–26 fiscal year, even after using all revenues, the shortfall for retirement payments will stand at Tk 71.76 billion.

The deficit for the Welfare Trust will be another Tk 28.13 billion.

Both the Board and the Trust say that without regular budget allocations from the government, the crisis cannot be resolved.

Occasional lump-sum allocations are far from enough. In this context, education adviser professor C R Abrar sent a demi-official letter seeking funds from the economic adviser on 12 November.

Officials from both the Board and the Trust say that to ensure timely payment of retirement and welfare benefits, the pending applications must be cleared through adequate government allocation. There is no alternative to regular budgetary support. Occasional lump-sum assistance cannot solve a crisis of this scale.