At least 2,500 non-government educational institutions across the country are going to enjoy monthly pay order (MPO) facilities, which would be announced in the beginning of next month, sources said.
Education ministry sources said they have completed all preparations for the announcement of MPO facilities. Now, it needs the final nod of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for its implementation.
The sources said the announcement could have been made this month, but the Prime Minister is going to attend the 74th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York. She will reach New York on September 22 and return on October 1, as per the schedule given by the foreign ministry.
Besides, education minister Dipu Moni will also be in New York to attend the UNGA session, as per the schedule of foreign ministry.
After her return, the file for the MPO facilities would be signed to fulfil the longstanding demand of the teachers, who have organised sit-ins, human chain, hunger-strikes and other programmes to realise their demand.
“All our preparations are ready. It only needs the nod of the Prime Minister. As she will be out of the country for the UNGA session, we could not announce it this month. But we hope the MOP facilities will be announced in the beginning of next month,” senior secretary of the Secondary and Higher Education Division of the education ministry, Md Sohrab Hossain, told The Independent on Wednesday.
He also said the announcement would be for general educational institutions, technical institutions and madrasas.
On April 10, education minister Dipu Moni told journalists that at least 2,500 educational institutions across the country would enjoy the MPO facilities.
Although several dates were given by the education ministry about the announcement of the MPO, it has not been implemented. But this time the ministry hopes that it will be announced in the fist week of October, sources said.
The ministry sources said they had screened approximately 2,500 non-
government educational institutions out of nearly 6,000 through the digital process. They have decided to announce MPO facilities for the eligible institutions, the sources added.
The government provided the last MPO facilities to 1,624 educational institutions in 2010. The process has been stopped since then.
Although teachers and heads of the educational institutions held talks with the government to include them under the MPO, nothing happened.
The long delay in offering MPO facilities forced the teachers and employees of educational institutions stage demonstrations on the streets in the capital and across the country for several months.
The teachers and employees of non-government educational institutions have been agitating for MPO since 2013. Finally, they managed to get the assurance from the government that they would be brought under MPO facilities in June 2018.
Following this, the government issued two separate MPO policies for technical and madrasa level educational institutions on July 22.
Before starting online application, an advertisement would be published and the authorities of educational institutions would get at least 20 days for applying, according to the sources.
Later, the government announced that it would collect applications from eligible educational institutions online.
The online application for non-government educational institutions began on August 5 and ended on August 31 last year. At least 6,500 applications had been submitted from schools and colleges.
After a thorough scrutiny of the papers submitted by the educational institutions, the education ministry made the final list to provide MPO facilities.
Under MPO facilities, teachers and employees get some portion of their salaries from the government exchequer.
Sources said the government is providing the facilities to boost the morale of the teachers so that they pay more attention to their activities and ensure quality education.