The government is upgrading 2,704 community primary schools, now under its monthly pay order (MPO), to registered primary schools from the next month, a top official has said.
Primary and mass education secretary A K M Abdul Awal Majumder told bdnews24.com on Wednesday: "The initiative has been taken to make the children school-bound, prevent their dropout and ensure standard education for all."
He said letters were already sent to the authorities of the schools to make them inform of the decision. "They'll get the status of registered schools and be being run as per government rules and regulations from May."
Currently there are 3,782 community primary schools across the country.
Majumder said the divisional deputy directors have been asked to take necessary steps to implement the initiative.
He warned: "Stern legal actions will be taken against those found involved in illegal dealings in the matter," he warned.
After being registered, the schools' teachers will get Tk 200 as monthly house rent, Tk 200 as medical allowance, Tk 200 as miscellaneous allowance, two bonuses every year (half of the basic payment) and also retirement benefit, apart from the basic pay like the government primary schools.
Nur Uddin Ahmed, director general of the compulsory primary education implementation and monitoring unit, said untrained assistant teachers of the community primary schools are now receiving a monthly payment of Tk 4,700 and trained (certificate in education) assistant teachers Tk 4,900.
He said currently there is no post of headmaster in the community primary schools, but it would be created after their upgrading to registered schools.
Then, the monthly payment of an untrained headmaster would be Tk 5,200 and a trained headmaster Tk 5,500, he added.
He further said: "When a teacher of a registered school will go on retirement, he/she will enjoy the pension, which will be equivalent the basic pay of the months he worked for the school."
Community primary schools were introduced in the country in 1993-94 with the assistance of Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Development Association (IDA) and German development agencies.
The government used to pay every teacher Tk 300 a month at the initial stage. But it raised they monthly pay to Tk 600 and Tk 1,200 in phases. Later, the schools were brought under MPO.
News Source:
BDNews24