The government is searching for an alternative way to bring all the non-government educational institutions under the monthly pay order (MPO) facility, as demanded by the lawmakers, said education minister Nurul Islam Nahid yesterday.
“Our lawmakers have asked for the introduction of MPO in the educational institutions. Being a lawmaker myself, I respect their demand. I know it is a great problem. Nevertheless, we have to find a solution. We are looking at various alternatives. There is no doubt that we will find a way,” he said during the budget discussion in Parliament yesterday.
Nahid said MPO-listed teachers and employees of the non-government educational institutions receive their basic salaries from the exchequer and they also get dearness allowance, house rent, and medical and festival allowances like government employees.
At present, there are 26,076 MPO-listed educational institutions and 5,242 non-MPO institutions. In 2010, a total of 1,624 educational institutions was listed under the MPO.
There has been a persistent demand to list the non-government educational institutions under the MPO facility.
The minister said that the main problem is the lack of allocation of money.
Finance minister AMA Muhith also recently said no money would be allocated to this sector right now.
On June 7, Muhith criticised the lawmakers for demanding the MPO band, adding that one-third of these educational institutions are useless.
Yesterday, Nahid suggested an alternative to the MPO in Parliament: “The Prime Minister has given certain directives and the finance minister has given consent. So, we are looking for a solution. We need cooperation from all of you.”
The minister also said the coming generations have to be educated on a par with world standards. “We are trying to do this because we want good, honest, and patriotic citizens,” he said.
About the heist of the Bangladesh Bank’s reserves, he said, “We kept our reserves at the Federal Bank, but some of these were stolen. Technology is not enough; we need ethical teachings as well.”
Criticising Saifur’s coaching centre, he said, “We had a teacher named Saifur who started a coaching business after retiring from teaching. He claimed that no one can be a doctor or an engineer without learning English. Even to be a hacker, one has to learn English. Such is the situation.”
Saifur’s coaching centre drew criticism when it published an advertisement for training skilled hackers during the incident of the heist of the Bangladesh Bank’s reserves.
Joint signature  
The education ministry yesterday issued a directive that the teachers and employees of non-government educational institutions will be able to draw their salaries and allowances with the joint signatures of the deputy commissioner of the district and the principal or headmaster.
At the upazila level, the signatories would be the upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) and the principal or headmaster, the ministry said in a handout yesterday.
Generally, the salaries and allowances of the non-government educational institutions are drawn with the joint signatures of chairperson of the managing committee/governing body of the institutions and the principal/headmaster.
Lawmakers could earlier be elected chairpersons of the governing bodies of a maximum of four private schools and colleges. However, the Supreme Court, in a verdict this month, barred them from acting as chairpersons of governing bodies.
The handout stated that in such a situation, the salaries and allowances of the teachers and employees can be drawn under Sections 6 (Kha) and 8 (3) of the Regulation for Managing Committee and Governing Bodies, 2009.