Education officers, bank officials and headmasters have allegedly been misappropriating scholarship money of primary school students in Shoronkhola upazila in Bagerhat.
Parents of these students alleged that the management committee abetted teachers in pocketing a substantial portion of scholarship money meant for students, under various pretexts.
Several assistant teachers of different primary schools, on condition of anonymity admitted the occurrence to the online news agency banglanews24.com.
Sources said each student in the 112 primary schools in the four unions of the upazila get Tk600 each, every six months, as scholarship money from the government.
The headmasters deduct amounts from this money for various purposes. It could range from Tk100 deducted from each student on the pretext of repairing furniture and buying fans; Tk50 to Tk100 for inadequate attendance and at times the deduction could be for the alleged purpose of providing refreshments to bank officials and education officers visiting the school.
There have been instances of teachers fudging the total number of students in a school in order to get more money from the government.
Md Jiyarul Haque, father of class five student Rahnuma said headmaster of his daughter’s school had taken Tk100 from his daughter’s scholarship money on the pretext of buying fans.
Another student’s father Mosharraf Hossain said: “Each time the head master of the school has taken Tk100 from my child’s scholarship money on the excuse that it will be used for providing refreshments to guests visiting the school as well as to the students.
Preferring to remain anonymous, an assistant teacher said during the last few years headmasters and education officers had pocketed over Tk300,000 from the scholarship money.
Denying the allegation, Md Akhteruzzaman Milon, upazila education officer said he does not know anything about the misappropriation of scholarship money.
