The education ministry has transferred about 400 officials of the Bangladesh Civil Service (Education) in violation of the rules that the ministry had formulated, education officials told New Age on Monday. Besides, the ministry on November 10 issued transfer orders to seven officials of the Directorate of Inspection Audit for alleged involvement in irregularities, but the order was cancelled on November 12.

An education ministry’s circular, issued in November 2008, stipulated that only the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education will have the authority to issue transfer orders to lecturers and assistant professors outside Dhaka, but it is the ministry which has been doing that for the last few weeks. A powerful syndicate, led by the assistant private secretary to education minister Nurul Islam Nahid, has allegedly played the key role in issuance of the transfer and posting orders in total violation of the rules set by the ministry on 6 November, 2008,’ said ministry officials. When asked about allegations of the frequent taking of bribes for the transfer and posting of education cadre officials, Nahid on Thursday told newsmen that he would look into the matter.

The ministry on Sunday transferred a lecturer of Bangla, M Abdur Rashid, of the Government Bangabandhu College in Gopalganj to KC College in Jhenaidah. The same order also transferred Netai Jibon Nandi, an assistant professor of history in Barisal Government College, to the Higher Secondary Teachers’ Training Institute as its assistant director. The order issued on Sunday also transferred nearly 160 lecturers and assistant professors to various colleges and offices outside Dhaka. Likewise, in violation of the rules, the ministry on Thursday issued a transfer order to nearly 170 lecturers and assistant professors of colleges and offices outside Dhaka.

An official of the DSHE on Monday said that there are some government colleges which suffer from shortage of teachers. ‘Only we have the information about which college is short of teachers and where education is being hampered, so the ministry’s abrupt transfer orders have created a chaotic situation in some colleges and hampered the smooth discharge of the DSHE’s duties too,’ he said. Quoting Sunday’s order, an official of the education ministry said, ‘Sangjukta Pal Chaitali, a lecturer of English at Chittagong Government City College, has been transferred to the Government Music College in Dhaka to a post of that deals with folksongs. Such an order is a clear violation of the rules on the posting of cadre officials.’ ‘The music college has too many teachers against too few posts. Not only Sangjukta Pal but also more than 50 such lecturers and assistant professors have been posted to some colleges inside and outside Dhaka where actually there were no vacant posts,’ he said.

According to Sunday’s transfer order the DSHE’s assistant director [administration], M Kawsar Ali, has been made deputy director [administration] of the National Academy for Educational Management in violation of the rules. Kawsar Ali is a newly promoted associate professor of Islamic Studies but the rules require getting good results in foundation training and having MPhil or PhD for getting the post. ‘Kawsar, who was serving in different offices in Dhaka since 1996, only a few months ago managed to be posted to the DSHE. He is also facing a probe by the Anti-Corruption Commission for alleged corruption and irregularities committed during his job in the Directorate of Inspection and Audit under the ministry,’ said the official. When asked the justification of posting Kawsar to a position he is not qualified to hold, the education minister said that would carry out a probe before approving Kawsar’s posting.

Manmath Ranjan Baroi, assistant private secretary to the education minister, told New Age on Monday that at least three ministers have requested him to make Kawsar a deputy director. Baroi is alleged to have played the key role in postings and transfers. When asked about the posting of lecturer Bijoy Kumar Ghosh as a deputy director of the Education Engineering Department, Manmath said, ‘An official of the Prime Minister’s Office had strongly requested us to promote Bijoy to the new post.’ ‘A powerful minister requested my minister to cancel the transfer orders of seven officials of the DIA who were accused of corruption,’ he said. ‘Actually I had nothing to do with all this.’ When the education minister was asked about allegations of corruption against his private secretary, he replied, ‘I have heard too many allegations from different quarters in the last few months.’ There are more than 14,000 officers of the Bangladesh Civil Service (Education) who are employed in government colleges, 10 education boards and are also occupying different positions in some directorates under the education ministry.

-New Age