Nine years of widespread irregularities by a section of teachers, including a former headmistress, have crippled the Khulna Zila School, one of the best educational institutions in Khulna Division.
According to a recent government probe report, former headmistress Maleka Begum has been leading a powerful syndicate that has embezzled a staggering Tk20 crore by admitting students almost double the school’s capacity, taking bribes from the unauthorised admissions, and misappropriating hundreds of thousands of taka from the school fund.
Munshie Salah Uddin Junnu, an assistant teacher of the school, said years of malpractice have nearly destroyed the school’s reputation; the students now find it hard to concentrate because of the excruciatingly high numbers in classrooms.
District schools are the biggest government schools and are traditionally known as the best educational institutions in the respective districts.
Documents show that the Khulna Zila School has 1,920 seats. However, the Finance and Procurement Wing of the Directorate General of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) has found that at present, the number of students at the school is 3,478, meaning 1,558 students had been admitted illegally.
Moreover, former headmistress Maleka added two fresh sections to the sixth and seventh grades without taking approval from the Ministry of Education. Every grade in the school has extra students whose names, however, had not been entered in the attendance sheets.
There are allegations that the Maleka-led syndicate had taken bribes in the range of Tk50,000-Tk1 lakh for admitting each of the students above capacity.
Maleka has also allegedly pocketed Tk2.91 lakh from the school’s MLSS fund, Tk1.33 lakh from the fund for the poor, Tk7 lakh from the students’ tiffin fund, Tk1.5 lakh from the magazine fund and Tk4.6 lakh from the miscellaneous fund. She also never took approval or signatures from the teachers in-charge of these funds.
Eight teachers and employees of the school reportedly assisted the former headmistress in embezzling the money. At least nine local political leaders from various parties, including the ruling Awami League, some former students and local journalists were also involved in the syndicate.
On May 4, former state minister for labour Monnujan Sufiyan, who is a lawmaker from Khulna, wrote to the DSHE director general, recommending investigation against Maleka.
On June 7, AKM Zakir Hossain Bhuiyan, joint secretary of the Education Ministry, inspected the school and saw that there were additional students in all classes.
He filed a report in which he had hinted that there could be underhand transactions in admitting students. Raising questions about the school’s financial and administrative discipline, he recommended departmental action against Maleka Begum.
Soon after the report was filed, Maleka was transferred to Khulna Government Girls’ High School. A few days ago, she retired from there.
In the meantime, the DSHE formed a probe committee of its own. Nine teachers of the school gave statements in writing to the probe committee about everything they knew about Maleka’s malpractices. They held her responsible for the deteriorating standard of education at the school.
Assistant Teacher Md Akhteruzzaman told the probe committee that Maleka had spent money from the school fund for personal use and illegally admitted extra students. Some teachers and employees of the school and some influential political leaders assisted her. If needed, Maleka also hired goons to threaten people, who refused to comply.
In separate letters to the DSHE head, at least 10 guardians have also alleged that Maleka misappropriated crores of taka from the school’s fund.
When contacted, Maleka said: “There has always been tremendous pressure from the guardians. Everyone wanted to admit their children to Khulna Zila School. I have never resorted to any irregularity or crime in admitting students.”
She claimed that after she had joined, the school produced the best results in the SSC, JSC and PSC examinations under the Jessore Education Board.