Teachers' sufferings
Non-government teachers after retirement from regular service are now entitled to get some financial benefit according to the length of effective service rendered by them. And to look after this job a Board called Non-Govt. Teachers Retirement Benefit Board (NGTRB Board) headed by the Secretary, Ministry of Education, is working since introduction of this arrangement. The office to entertain applications from the incumbent teachers is now housed at BANBEIS Bhaban, 1, Sonargaon Road, Palassy, Nilkhet, Dhaka.
This office is so heavily overloaded with work that it is not possible to discharge services to the retired teachers smoothly and satisfactorily. One Deputy Director entrusted with the job has to deal with several hundreds of applications. Every day there is rush of teachers to file petitions. The disposal of cases is very slow due to paucity of manpower. The jurisdiction of the office, the whole of Bangladesh, is unmanageably large and it is hard to satisfy the needs of the teachers with this small manpower. A sense of dissatisfaction and frustration is observed among the teachers who are compelled to come to this office from far-flung areas. People from Teknaf to Tentulia have to come to this office even for collecting the format of applications. Many teachers allege that their petitions have been pending since long. One can easily observe the situation by going to the office. The rush of teachers is so heavy that the officials do not find any scope to give a patient hearing to anybody's problem. They feel rather disgusted at the onrush of teachers. Poor & innocent old teachers who deserve sympathy and cooperation from the officials are often found to tolerate obnoxious treatment from them. I would therefore like to offer the following suggestions for kind consideration of the Ministry of Education in greater public interest and to remove the sufferings of the retired non-govt. teachers.
1) Establish offices at all district headquarters and put the District Education Officers in charge of processing all the applications of his district.
2) Consider the office at BANBEIS as its head office and function of this office shall be to accord final approval of the cases sent by the DEOs.
3) Depute officers at headquarters division- wise. As such, as many as six deputy directors may be posted for the divisions- Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal & Sylhet.
4) Spare the teachers from coming to the head office for solving petty problems which can be met at the DEO level.
5) The Board headed by the Secretary Ministry of Education (NGTRB Board) should comprise of teachers who have no direct affiliation to any political party. Upright, honest and non-political members are expected to do justice to the innocent teachers.
6) Reconstitute the NGTRB Board as early as possible when its term is over, so that the works do not pile up to cause great sufferings to the poor teachers.
It is hoped that these suggestions, if executed, shall do some good to reduce the sufferings of the teachers who have dedicated their valuable lives towards building a society worth living.
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