Rampant corruption has allegedly plagued the Skills and Training Enhancement Project (STEP) of Habiganj Technical School and College. The authority has been accused of embezzling large chunks of money in the name of student enrollment, monthly allowance and study tours.
Principal Habibur Rahman and Hosainuzzaman Chowdhury, the teacher in charge of the project, have been accused for misappropriating funds, nepotism and irregularities.
The STEPS project, funded by the government and the World Bank, was launched to benefit underprivileged and unemployed youths. Run under the Directorate of Technical Education Bangladesh, the project is supposed to provide training in four categories to 240 poor and undereducated individuals. It also has a monthly allowance provision of Tk700 for the youths.
However, many students alleged that they were never given the monthly allowance. The budget for 16 study tours each year has also been misappropriated.
Dhaka Tribune investigated the matter and found widespread corruption and nepotism in the admission process. The authority has also been involved in extortion in the name of “form fees” by releasing more admission forms than the actual number of seats available in two academic sessions a year.
Sources said, activities of the STEP project were closely guarded, so nobody knew what was happening. Moreover, the absence of a local committee in the college helped the corruption to go on unabated.
When contacted, Principal Habibur Rahman denied all allegations of any wrongdoing and claimed that those were false. He did acknowledge taking “form fees” for the mosque fund, but could not give any satisfactory answer regarding the construction of the mosque.
