Doing away with corruption in education offices

In separate incidents, an assistant education inspector has been transferred to Hatia Dwip Government College in Noakhali on the allegation of asking for bribe and another education officer was assaulted and publicly humiliated because the amount he offered as bribe proved too little to his senior. In the first incident, the officer under the Directorate of Inspection and Audit (DIA) visited eight private educational institutions located in Bogra for carrying out his routine duty.  He demanded Tk 100,000 from each of the educational institutions he visited. The education secretary acted on the complaint lodged against the man. Apart from the punishment transfer, a decision has been taken to file a departmental case against him.
In the second incident, the allegation is even more serious. An assistant director of the Madhyamik and Ucha Madhyamik Shikkha (Maushi) or secondary and higher secondary education (admin) got furious when the secondary education officer of Gaibandha Fulchhari Upazila sought favour from him in exchange for Tk 20,000 as bribe money. First there was an altercation between the two over the 'meagre sum' and then the real drama was staged. The irate senior officer grabbed the junior by his hair and dragged him to the next room of the director of college and administration. There in front of the director, two deputy directors and a few officers and employees, he started spanking the subordinate officer. Then the victim was handed over to the police on charge of offering bribe.
In both cases, the main accused have denied their involvement in the alleged crime. The transferred officer has claimed that it was a conspiracy against him. In the second case, the senior officer apparently had the presentiment of turning the entire episode into a kind of mock drama by shifting the blame on to the man several notches below him in hierarchy. Even if he is given the benefit of doubt, does he have the right to assault a junior officer? Only a crazy, highly dissatisfied and disappointed man in his position can react so violently. He seems to have given a twist to the eventful incident in the later part in order to impress others that he was doing so from a moral high ground. Or else, he had no business manhandling a junior officer in that manner.
The upazila education officer is sure to blame for offering bribe. But can a lowly officer think of bribing a senior officer unless the corrupt practice is endemic? Even if the other man was innocent, he would have referred the matter to his senior for the offence he committed. The sudden eruption of temper says it all. Education offices in the country are far from clean, if not a den of corruption like the land offices. The two incidents have only given a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg.
The internal bickering has only exposed what is but a guarded secret (!) known to the public. The education boards and offices have long -- in fact since immediately after the country's independence -- been held hostage by some vested quarters who have invented ways to line their pockets at the expense of venerable teachers' honesty and integrity. Headmasters or principals boasting strong character and principles were made either to capitulate to these quarters'  illegal demands or fall victim to continued harassment. Without bribe can the head of an educational institution hardly get any office works in relation to the academic or financial matters of his/her school and college done.
How outrageous! Officers in charge of educational affairs have failed to stay above the temptation of making quick bucks. There may be officers who have not indulged in the corrupt practices but they are a rare breed and exceptions do not make a rule. Leakage of question papers, irregularity in selection of teachers, examiners, authors for text books and printing presses are some of the areas where hefty amount of money is involved. A transfer or promotion to a few select posts of the offices concerned has a price of astounding amount. The rot has been set at the top and this has attacked the lower organs of education. Educational institutions could not get away with the kind of education they impart if the ministry concerned got things right. That coaching has turned into a commercial business and suggestion and guide books still proliferate despite restrictions and ban imposed on those respectively is proof enough of the inherent weakness of the higher authority.
Mere lamenting over the fall of standard of education at the secondary and higher secondary levels will not do. The first task would be to eliminate the endemic corruption in all offices dealing with education. Why should schools or colleges or their staff  be compelled to part with their earnings which are limited? If the integrity of teachers, of all people, are suspect, society is likely to spawn dwarfs and the deformed instead of human beings possessing qualities that distinguish them from others. The Augean stable must have to be cleaned in order to help education to recuperate from the wound inflicted and revive its health.
There is no short-cut to pulling a nation out of the lurch. A crackdown on education offices is the need of the time. But first of all the ministry must be satisfied that it has earned the right to do so. With the required self-assurance it can only hope to be successful on such a mission.
    [email protected]