Academic activities at the century-old Rangpur High School have collapsed over the last decade, with its reputation waning, due to the abuse of power by the head of the school management committee, AKM Chhadayat Hossain Bakul.
Once a famous institute, the school now has merely 135 students between class XI and X.
Also the convener of the district unit Awami League, Bakul has stirred fresh controversy by appointing a headmaster defying an order from the education board and a court verdict.
His whimsical decision has left students, guardians and teachers of the historic educational institute enraged.
Bakul admitted the fact that the court verdict went against him, but claimed not to receive any copy of that. “The acting headmaster probably has received a verdict copy but he is in Dhaka now. I can't do anything about it until he returns,” Bakul said.
According to the complaints and official documents, the crisis began in 2009 after then-headmaster Yasin Ali retired. Bakul then appointed his pick–Abul Muzan Azad–to the post by ignoring seniority of the existing teachers. Azad went into retirement on March 2 last year.
Being the most senior teacher, Assistant Headmaster Siddikur Rahman was supposed to take the helm of the school. But he was deprived of the role. In April, Bakul was elected the president of the school management committee's ad-hoc body.
At a meeting on June 18, Bakul appointed Shah Md Al-Amin as the acting headmaster and suspended Siddikur based on “false” allegations.
Eleven days later, Siddikur reported the matter to the Dinajpur Education Board. He wrote about it to the board again on August 4, seeking its intervention to appoint him as the headmaster in accordance with the hierarchy of teachers.
The board chairman on August 4 sent a letter to the school management committee, asking it to hand over the headmaster's role to Siddikur.
However, Bakul suspended Siddikur through an email on August 7. Later on, the schoolteacher sued the Awami League leader citing the alleged irregularities and challenging his decisions.
On June 15 this year, a Rangpur court ordered Bakul to appoint Siddikur as the headmaster, withdrawing his suspension order and removing Shah Md Al Amin as the acting headmaster.
Bakul has refused to comply despite the board's order and the court's verdict.
“He (Bakul) is absolutely abusing his power as a politician in this case. He also suspended me upon baseless charges, only for harassment, and appointed his loyal teacher,” Siddikur said.
“Even after the Eid-ul-Azha vacation, I'm not yet appointed to the post,” said a frustrated Siddikur, who is set to retire on December 31. He now doubts if he could really be “honoured” through the appointment before he ends his career at the school.
“I still want my rights,” Siddikur told this reporter on Monday.
Asked about the verdict, Bakul argued that he did not receive any copy from the court.
“I was not even present at the court during the verdict. The acting headmaster may have got a copy of that,” he said, adding: “I'll look into the matter once Al-Amin is back to Rangpur.”