Tangail Correspondent: Mirzapur Upazila Primary Education Office of Tangail has become an arena of irregularities and corruption in the syndicate of some teacher leaders and some officials and employees of the office. The circle has also long been involved in the recruitment and transfer trade. It has been alleged that thousands of teachers and employees of 170 government primary schools in the upazila have been held hostage for a long time due to irregularities and corruption under the grip of this cycle.
60 assistant teachers of different schools have not received the due salary of DPD for seven years, even after this syndicate cycle took teachers hostage and bribed them. The outstanding salary of a teacher is about 60 thousand rupees. They are going from door to door for arrears. Again, suddenly, the salaries of 200 teachers from different schools have been stopped for the last two months. As a result, these teachers are in extreme trouble.
Speaking to the affected teachers of various schools on Saturday, a picture of the irregularities and corruption of the education office was found.
According to the investigation, Mirzapur upazila has one municipality and 170 government primary schools in 14 unions. These schools are being managed in eight clusters. There are thousands of teachers and staff in these schools. It is alleged that no work is done in the Upazila primary education office without bribes.
On condition of anonymity, at least 15 former and present head teachers and assistant teachers have complained that they receive contingency money every year in various government primary schools: money for minor repairs in schools, money for slips, money for painting and plastering of schools, and money for the purchase of various materials. Every year, millions of taka are allocated to the Mirzapur Upazila Primary Education Office for various developmental works, including money for the purchase of decoration materials for children’s classes, money for sports materials, money for transporting books, allowance money for teachers’ training, and money for various national events. It is alleged that the syndicate of the education office is grabbing a huge amount of money. As a result, important developmental work is not being done in various schools.
Meanwhile, from the 2015–2016 academic year to 2019–2020, 60 teachers underwent one and a half-year training at Tangail PTI to get higher grades. Bribes are also taken from these teachers to clear the arrears. However, even in the last seven years, 60 teachers have complained that they have not received their dues. In addition, due to the manipulation of the education office, about 200 teachers of various schools, including Deohata Government Primary School, Perantali Government Primary School, Kanthalia Government Primary School, Ghugi Government Primary School, Pushtakamuri Government Primary School, Pushtakamuri Alhaj Shafiuddin Mia Government Primary School, and Ichail Government Primary School of the Upazila, were killed last January. He said that they are in dire straits due to the sudden stoppage of salary for the month of February.
In this regard, the upazila primary education officer, Sharif Uddin, denied various allegations and said that he works sincerely so that the teachers and employees do not suffer any harassment when they come to work in the office. Those whose salaries are due and have been stopped will get them soon. If any teacher leader is involved in corruption by using the name of office officials, strict action will be taken against them, subject to investigation if any complaint is received.
