An acting headmaster in a Rajshahi public school has been suspended by their governing body for filing a complaint about the taking of bribes for teacher appointments.
The headmaster had lodged a complaint with the secondary and higher education directorate after discovering four teachers had submitted fake registration documents during their recruitment process.
Although the directorate has confirmed the forgeries, and the salaries of the teachers involved are reportedly being withheld, the governing body of Mohanganj High School in Rajshahi’s Bagmara, is still ignoring demands by parents and pupils to reinstate the suspended headmaster.
It is outrageous that a public servant can be wrongly suspended in such a manner for simply performing their duty.
One of the teachers involved in this has admitted to arranging the transfer of one decimal of land to local AL leaders at the request of the governing body, as a bribe for being appointed as a teacher.
Far from being ashamed at this report, the local union AL president has stated he sees no offence in the process as “money is taken everywhere while recruiting teachers.” Instead, a case has been filed against the sub-registrar of land for registering the land transfer in the name of the prime minister without permission from the PMO.
The government must disown and root out this type of institutionalised and politically protected corruption.
It also needs to do more to ensure the law upholds the Whistleblower Protection Act 2011, so that people who bring wrongdoing to light are properly protected.
