A former donor member has planted banana trees in the field of a school in Puthia, Rajshahi, put new locks on the teachers’ office and fenced off the main gate with bamboo, saying his daughter-in-law was not given a job and the school’s name was changed.
It happened on Saturday (3 October), the weekly holiday, at Bhalukgachhi Muktijoddha Bidyalaya. School authorities said former donor member Azad Ali did it with a group of people.
The institution opened in 2015 as Muktijoddha Technical School and College. After the political change, its name was changed on Rajshahi Education Board’s instructions, and the managing committee chose Bhalukgachhi Muktijoddha Bidyalaya, a name the resolution says Azad Ali himself proposed. It was permitted to teach up to class eight on 11 December 2024 and now teaches primary classes and classes six and seven, but has not been brought under the MPO scheme.
The main gate was found fenced off, banana trees planted across the field and new locks on the teachers’ office; local people said they could no longer use the school’s tube well. Local shopkeeper Lal Mohammad said pupil numbers had fallen because of legal disputes but classes were held regularly until the gate was blocked.
Azad Ali said he had donated land on the understanding that a technical college would be set up and his son and daughter-in-law given jobs there, but the college never opened and his daughter-in-law was not given a job, which is why he locked the school and planted the trees.
Head teacher Selim Reza said Azad Ali donated the land unconditionally, and when the land was registered he demanded jobs for his son and daughter-in-law, which the committee agreed to. With the college section delayed, his daughter-in-law was made an assistant teacher in the primary section and died in service in 2022; when Azad Ali then asked for his son’s second wife to be made an office assistant, the committee agreed to that too, with a resolution on record. Azad Ali filed a case in a Rajshahi court on 16 September 2025 claiming the school was not set up under the name agreed for the land, and the case is continuing, he said.
Managing committee president Touhidul Islam, a local BNP leader, said the donor’s claims were wrong and the school has pupils and holds regular classes; Rajshahi Education Board approved a new managing committee on the 10th of last month. Puthia upazila nirbahi officer Liakat Salman said he was aware of the matter and would arrange for the school to reopen on returning from Dhaka on Sunday. Whatever lies behind it, no one can close an institution that has pupils, he said.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report