Speakers at a city programme urged the government on Saturday to fulfil the pledge of the Liberation War through nationalising all educational institutions, reports UNB.
During a discussion programme on government recognition for educational institutions under Monthly Pay Order (MPO) System, the speakers said, education is the responsibility of the government and they must ensure it.
Presenting a keynote, Shikkhabarta editor Professor AN Rasheda said, 98 per cent of the country's secondary and higher secondary education is dependent on private management.
"In secondary stage, more than eight thousand government-recognised institutions are waiting to be brought under the MPO system, which is one-fourth of the total secondary institutions", she said.
Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal central leader Rajekuzzaman Ratan said the teachers are teaching more than 2.0 million (20 lakh) students without any salary and are being forced to be in other professions besides teaching to maintain their families.
This is affecting the quality of the education.
Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) central secretary Ruhin Hossain Prince claimed that the government has the capacity to bring these institutions under MPO system, they just need the vision to do it.
At the end of the year, a good amount of surplus money from the budget allocated for the Education Ministry remains unspent, which could easily be used for the teachers' salary as less than Tk 2,000 crore would be needed to bring the institutions under MPO, he claimed.
Among others, Non-MPO Educational Institution Teachers' and Employees' Federation leader Sharifuzzaman Aga Khan, Educationist Dr Taibul Hasan, Dr Tanuj Kanti Dey and Former Secretary Mostaq Ahmad also spoke in the programme.
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