Tk 2,000cr lifeline for retired teachers

Hundreds of teachers and employees have been living in severe hardship without receiving their retirement and welfare benefits for more than four years.

More than a hundred teachers and employees have reportedly died before receiving what they were entitled to.

Although the High Court directed that retirement benefits be paid within six months, the order has not been implemented in practice.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has now stepped in to support these teachers and employees facing extreme financial hardship.

He has decided to allocate Tk 2,000 crore as a one-time special grant to clear their outstanding retirement and welfare benefits.

The prime minister has also instructed the Ministry of Finance to release the funds as soon as possible.
Retired teachers and employees are expected to receive their retirement and welfare benefits simultaneously on 15 August.

The prime minister is expected to inaugurate the payment programme at a ceremony at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital.

Under the initiative, around 70,000 beneficiaries of the Retirement Benefits Board and 44,000 beneficiaries of the Welfare Trust may receive payments. Education Minister is expected to hold a press conference on August 13 to provide details of the programme.

For the first time, the funds will reportedly be transferred directly to beneficiaries’ bank accounts through the iBAS++ software. This will eliminate the opportunity for brokers or intermediaries to become involved.

Teacher leaders said the government’s initiative would bring significant relief to teachers and employees facing severe financial and medical difficulties in the final stages of their lives.

According to concern authority , this is the largest one-time disbursement programme in the history of the Retirement Benefits Board and the Teachers and Employees Welfare Trust.

Why the payments were delayed
For retirement benefits, 6 percent of their basic salary is deducted every month during their service. Another 4 percent of their basic salary is deducted for welfare benefits.

Under a government decision, Tk 100 is also collected annually from students, with Tk 70 deposited into the retirement fund and Tk 30 into the welfare fund.

The remaining amount is adjusted through government assistance and income from investments of the funds.

But, much of the deposited money was misappropriated over the past 17 years, while a significant amount remains stuck in weak banks.

In addition, the previous government did not allocate funds in the annual budget, resulting in a monthly shortfall of Tk 42 crore in the Retirement Benefits Board and Tk 13 crore in the Welfare Trust.

As a result, the number of applications awaiting settlement continued to rise.

For many retired teachers, the one-time payment from the Retirement Benefits Board and Welfare Trust is their only financial support in old age.

However, teachers who retired from 2022 onward have been facing severe hardship without receiving their retirement and welfare benefits.

They have been going from one office to another in an effort to receive the money.

Before completing six months in office, the BNP government has taken an initiative to pay their outstanding benefits. The teaching community believes that this initiative for non-government teachers will remain memorable in the history of Bangladesh.

HC had ordered benefits to be paid within 6 months of retirement
On 2 September, the Supreme Court published the 13-page full judgment on its website. Earlier, on February 22, 2024, the High Court had directed that more than five lakh MPO-listed teachers and employees of non-government educational institutions be provided their retirement benefits within six months of retirement.

In its judgment, the court observed that teachers have to wait for years to receive their retirement benefits and cannot escape the resulting harassment. The court also said that their salaries should be taken into consideration and that retirement benefits must therefore be paid within six months.

The court further observed that teachers cannot be expected to go from office to office for years to receive their retirement benefits.