The government has compiled a list of some 1,100 teachers with fake MPO certificates.

The Department of Inspection and Audit (DIA) under the Ministry of Education prepared the list after investigating nearly 25,000 educational institutions for over a decade. The authorities are now taking steps to reclaim the salaries and allowances paid to these fake certificate holders.

The DIA submitted the list along with its recommendations in June this year. According to the report, most of the perpetrators obtained the fake certificates through forgery and lobbying.

Prior to the submission of the list, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on April 5 sent a recommendation to the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) to investigate 19 teachers at Uttara High School and College over MPO irregularities. 

The DSHE later ordered the cancellation of the MPO of the 19 teachers and reclaiming of the salaries and allowances paid to them.

The fake certificate holders have taken about TK50 crore in salaries and allowances, said the DIA report. 

The names of these 19 teachers are also on the DIA list, although their circumstances are slightly different from the other fake certificate holders.

According to the DSHE investigation, the government eliminated the post of junior teachers in the MPO Policy of 1995. However, the Uttara High School and College authorities breached the policy to appoint junior teachers to the 16th MPO grade in 1997, 1998, and 2000 after accepting bribes.

As a result, the 19 teachers were registered in the MPO system, unlike other fake certificate holders. However, their certificates are still invalid as they were never qualified to receive them, according to the DSHE.

Regarding steps taken to reclaim salaries from fake certificate holders, DSHE acting deputy director (Dhaka region) Shahara Khanom said: “A letter was sent to the assistant general manager of Agrani Bank last month to send all issued cash vouchers and account statements [of the 19 Uttara High School and College teachers] to reclaim the funds.”

She added that 20 Uttara High School and College teachers had been on the list, but one name was dropped as the teacher had died. 

The others are: Abdul Khalek, Minhazur Rahman, Atiqur Rahman, Mohammad Golzar Hossain, Zahirul Islam, Afroza Khatun, Mohammad Abdul Hannan Mia, Manjurul Haque Majumdar, Abul Kalam, Shaheed Ullah, Shamima Afroz, Hanufa Begum, Noor Uddin, Subhash Chandra Mitra, Muhammad Lutfar Rahman, Mehrun Nesha Khanam, Parveen Akhter, Mohammad Ziadul Haque, Jahangir Hossain and retired assistant teacher Jinnatunnesha.

DIA sources said a committee would be formed to coordinate the reclaiming of salaries from all 1,100 teachers.

They added that the list only included teachers who had complaints against them. The number of teachers with fake certificates could increase if the investigation was expanded to all MPO certificate holders.

The DIA’s findings
According to the DIA report, the 1,000 teachers with fake certificates include 800 teachers in the Secondary and Higher Education Division and 300 teachers in the Technical and Madrasa Education Division.

Asked if the fake certificates were verified, DIA Director Prof Aliullah Md Azmatgir said: “Currently, we are cross-checking certificates with registration data. Once we verify all certificates, we will get a real picture of how many fake certificate holders there are.”

The DIA report found that around 800 of the teachers had provided fake NTRCA certificates, around 300 had provided false computer skill certificates, and over 70 had provided fake BEd, secretarial and other certificates.

The report also said that over 400 cases of certificate forgery were reported from Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions, 400 from Dhaka and Mymensingh, 260 from Khulna and Barisal, and around 100 from Chittagong and Sylhet divisions.

However, due to a manpower shortage, the authorities could not instate and conduct individual investigations, DSHE director Belal Hossain told this reporter.