Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Chairman Iqbal Mahmud has made unannounced visits to six primary and secondary schools in Chittagong, and found most of the teachers absent.
Iqbal visited Kattoli Nurul Haque Chowdhury Primary School around 9:15am on Sunday, and was surprised to find most of the students strolling or sitting outside the school premises.
Of the eight teachers the school has, only the assistant headmaster was present. At that time, several guardians met with the ACC chairman and expressed their disappointment with the quality of their children's education.
Next, the ACC chairman visited Bhatiari Government Primary School and found two teachers among the total 11 absent. School authorities were unable to provide a reason for their absence.
Upon inspecting Saturday's attendance sheet, Iqbal discovered that a lot of students had been marked present despite their absence, and teachers were yet to take attendance again as of 10 am on Sunday. The school authorities were unable to cite a reason for this irregularity either.
"No one will be allowed to neglect our children's education. If necessary, section 166 of the penal code will be implemented to ensure the presence of all teachers," the ACC chairman warned.
In another visit to Shitalpur High School, Iqbal praised the school's policy of not allowing students who had failed in their test examinations to sit for the upcoming SSC exams.
However, he disapproved of the authorities taking a bribe of Tk2,000 from ninth graders - who had failed in multiple subjects - to promote them to tenth grade.
"This is unethical. There can be no scope for unethical activities in an educational institute," he said.
