What's happening in the realm of Bangladesh's civil service nowadays has deeply been concerning. Civil servants are supposed to uphold personal integrity, empathy, and trustworthiness to earn faith and confidence from society when discharging their assigned responsibilities. They receive various training programmes to enhance their level of efficiency so that they can serve the people and the nation.
However, it seems, many of them have not been sufficiently motivated by the objectives of these trainings, or the institutions themselves may lack the capacity to properly equip the target groups. At best, in field administration, the nation has yet to witness any notable examples of their dealings, behavioural patterns, generosity, or citizen-friendly interactions that reflect training outcomes.
Training providers ought to reconsider the modality, content, and post-training performance evaluation to determine whether the field administration system is navigating the right path. A socio-economic study could be conducted to explore why the values, attitudes and moralities of civil servants are steadily declining.
It is regrettable that a newspaper recently reported that, in the past twelve years, eight Deputy Commissioners were allegedly involved in sexual scandals, yet no exemplary punishment was handed down. Moreover, some Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNO) and Assistant Commissioners were also reportedly engaged in such immoral acts and tactically escaped accountability.
As a result, wrongdoing and dishonest activities in administration have spread rapidly, eroding public trust in government management systems. The culture of impunity that has taken root over time has encouraged repeat offences. Therefore, strong management with zero tolerance for any sexual misconduct must ensure serious punishment without delay-neither withdrawal nor appointment as OSD (Officer on Special Duty) should be an option.
It is hoped that the government will take prompt and exemplary action regarding the recent scandal involving the DC of Shariatpur so that further misdeeds are prevented.
Md. Refatul Hossain
Additional Director (retd.)
Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE)
Faridpur Region
