A move has been made to limit the teacher-recruitment and recommendation power of the Non-Government Teachers’ Registration and Certification Authority (NTRCA) and hand it back to the managing committees of non-government educational institutions, it is alleged. Teacher leaders and those involved in education fear this could bring back the scope for irregularity, influence and bribery in teacher recruitment.
At a meeting on NTRCA’s overall activities held at the education ministry on 3 August, a bureaucrat tried to impose his opinion and directions on the matter, several officials present at the meeting have alleged. They claim the meeting favoured returning NTRCA’s recruitment power to the committees and also called for it to be implemented quickly.
Officials present at the meeting allege that although many were not given a chance to speak, the minutes recorded that “everyone present at the meeting agreed on the matter”. Questions have been raised over this within the education ministry and NTRCA too.
Those concerned claim that a statement made in parliament by an MP was used as an argument for changing NTRCA’s structure. That statement, it is also alleged, gave a wrong interpretation of NTRCA’s recruitment and recommendation provisions. The MP concerned could not be reached for comment.
Educationists and teacher leaders say that the establishment of NTRCA on the initiative of Begum Khaleda Zia in 2005, and the handing of entry-level teacher-recruitment recommendation to the body in 2015, established transparency and a merit-based system in recruitment. Many say that because of its bribe- and influence-free recruitment, NTRCA gained acceptance as a “second public service commission”.
They fear that returning recruitment power to the managing committees again would destroy that achievement and increase the scope for financial dealings and political influence in recruitment.
A large number of the country’s teachers and would-be teachers, including 18th teacher-registration holders, have expressed concern over the matter and sought the intervention of Education Minister Dr A N M Ehsanul Haque Milon. They demand that the teacher-recruitment system be reformed by strengthening NTRCA further, not under pressure from any individual or group.
Veteran teacher leader Md Mujibur Rahman Howlader, principal of the Agargaon-Taltola Government Colony School and College, said: “Taking teacher-recruitment power away from NTRCA and handing it to the managing committees would be a grave and self-destructive mistake.”
In this situation, many in the teaching community have demanded a clear explanation from the education ministry about the minutes of the 3 August meeting, the basis for the decision, and the move to implement it. Their question: who will take responsibility for a decision to weaken the merit-based teacher-recruitment system?
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report