The parliamentary standing committee on public administration ministry on Monday recommended that lawmakers be allowed to head governing bodies of four government colleges in the respective parliamentary constituencies. The meeting of the committee also recommended amendment to the respective laws to this effect, committee member Barkatullah Bulu told New Age after the meeting.
The existing laws allow the lawmakers to head the management committees of non-government schools, colleges and madrassahs only.
The parliamentary body had earlier recommended that the government should allow the lawmakers to head the governing bodies of government colleges also.
Officials of the ministry of public administration told the standing committee meeting on Monday that the education ministry was working on this matter as per recommendation made earlier.
Chaired by committee chairman Khandakar Asaduzzamn, the parliamentary body meeting was also attended, among others, by HN Ashikur Rahman, RUM Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury and Jahanar Begum.
For the last few months, some Awami League lawmakers have been trying to introduce management committees at government colleges and schools aiming at ‘improvement of quality of education.’
All the teacher organisations, however, have been opposing the move saying that the decision would simply ruin the environment of education and might introduce ‘admission business’ as is the case for non-government educational institutions.
Almost all non-government schools, madrassahs and colleges have long been facing various difficulties with the management committees headed and dominated by ruling party lawmakers or their representatives, teacher leaders said.
BCS Education Association president Matiur Rahman Gazzali told New Age on Monday that introduction of lawmakers’ monitoring at the public colleges would create a complex situation and ruin the academic atmosphere.
`We strongly oppose it and want withdrawal of the recommendations made by the parliamentary committee. Earlier, in the last year, we had opposed the same move taken by the Awami League lawmaker ABM Golam Mostafa,’ Gazzali said.
There are 265 colleges, 251 vocational institutions and three madrassahs run by the government across the country and the government is the sole authority to hire and fire teachers in these institutions.
-With New Age input
