Private Teachers to Be Nationalised, PM Will Fulfil Khaleda Zia’s Promise: Rizvi

The jobs of private school and college teachers and employees will be brought under nationalisation, although it may take some time, BNP Acting Secretary General and Prime Minister’s Adviser Advocate Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said on Thursday.

“Private teachers and employees will be nationalised. It may take some time. But Prime Minister Tarique Rahman will definitely fulfil the promise made by his mother Khaleda Zia,” he said.

Rizvi made the remarks at a rally of private teachers and employees at the auditorium of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) in Ramna, Dhaka, on Thursday (October 8). He said the nation has a close relationship with the happiness, sorrow, joy and suffering of this community.

“If we cannot share their hopes and aspirations, their suffering and their happiness, then the smooth upward progress, development and advancement that we seek will not be possible,” he said.

“If the backbone is weak, the entire body becomes paralysed. It is extremely painful that those who are the backbone of the nation still have to take to the streets today to press for their demands.”

Rizvi said former prime minister Khaleda Zia had also made commitments regarding the demands of private teachers and employees.

“So, we believe that what you are talking about today and the demands you are raising were also the subject of commitments made earlier by our former prime minister, Begum Khaleda Zia, the leader of the country, who is the source of the political thoughts, beliefs and feelings of many of us,” he said.

“The BNP government and the political party I belong to have an extraordinary ability to maintain consistency between their commitments and their implementation. So, I do not believe that a mother’s promise will not be fulfilled by her son, the current prime minister. It will happen. I believe it may simply be a matter of some time.”

‘Education sector must be rebuilt’

Rizvi said rebuilding the education sector should be the government’s top priority. “I have said before that, first and foremost, we have to build our education sector. It was severely destroyed and paralysed during the Hasina era, during the fascist period,” he said.

He alleged that pressure was used at different levels of the education administration to ensure that students passed examinations despite inadequate performance.

“They did not write in the answer script, but they had to be passed. The headmaster was reprimanded by the education officer, the education officer was reprimanded by the director general from Dhaka, and the director general was being reprimanded on the prime minister’s instructions,” he said.

Rizvi said a teacher had told him about a student who had not written the answers to the questions in the examination script.

“One teacher told me that a student had not even written the questions in the answer script, except for writing down the question itself. When the higher authorities were asked about it, they said, ‘Give him marks anyway,’” he said. He said education was not merely about learning subjects such as Bangla, English, mathematics, geography or history.

“Education means that when a nation stands on a minimum level of education, a boy is not simply learning Bangla, English, mathematics, geography or history. Along with that, an educated person becomes morally strong,” he said.

“Education is such a thing that an educated person is an enlightened person, a morally strong person. But at that time, an attempt was made to pass students without any concern for morality. We had to show a 90 percent or 95 percent pass rate. It was completely destroyed. We have to provide relief from that situation.”

Rizvi said teachers also had responsibilities alongside their demands. “When you are raising your demands, we also have demands for you. The people of this country have demands. I also have a personal demand. You have to provide relief from that situation as well,” he said.

‘Many demands have already been fulfilled’

The BNP leader said private teachers and employees had been raising their demands for decades and that many of those demands had gradually been fulfilled.

“Your demands have existed for a long time, for 30, 40 or 50 years. In response to those demands, many of them have gradually been fulfilled. Today, you are receiving 100 percent of your basic salary,” he said.

“Then there are the other allowances. You may not be receiving 100 percent of all of them, but you are receiving 20 percent of one, 30 percent of another and 50 percent of another. I believe your other demands will also be fulfilled.”

He said private teachers and employees had not been completely ignored in the past.

“It is not that you have been severely deprived from the very beginning. At different times, many of your demands have been accepted in response to your demands and movements. Today, you are at least able to stand on a somewhat stable position,” he said.

‘Transfer system creates family separation’

Rizvi also addressed the problems faced by teachers over transfers, particularly when married couples are posted to different parts of the country.

“One major problem is that the husband is kept in one place while the wife is posted to another. I consider these a kind of bureaucratic complication, indifference and arbitrariness,” he said.

“Where in the world does it happen that you send the husband to Bhurungamari and the wife to Naikhyangchhari?”