Three Viqarunnisa teachers lose MPO benefits, face suspension and legal action

The government has scrapped MPO benefits for three Viqarunnisa teachers, including Principal Nazneen Ferdous, after the suicide of a student, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid has said.

Nahid briefed the media on the findings filed by a government-formed panel that investigated the events leading to the suicide of Aritry Adhikary, a ninth-grade student who died by suicide after humiliation by those teachers.

Nahid announced the panel’s recommendations to suspend those teachers and take departmental and legal action against them.

Earlier in the day, a group of students gathered outside the Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, demanding justice.

Another group inside the school says whatever is being said against the teachers is not completely true.

“The whole matter has ended up in the court. The court will take its decision,” said Mushtari Sultana, a Viqarunnisa teacher.

The teachers have called for the students to take the exams around 12:30pm, but the students refused to accept it.

They vowed to continue the movement and demanded the resignation of the principal.

“We have received many complaints against the institution from students and guardians and identified three persons responsible for the incident,” Nahid said. 

Citing the findings by the panel, Nahid said Principal Nazneen Ferdous, and two other teachers, Zinat Akhtar and Hasna Hena, are responsible for the incident.

“The three threatened Aritry’s parents and the principal’s cruel attitude toward her parents shattered Aritry mentally. That provoked her to commit suicide. She chose to end her life as she could not bear the insult to her parents,” Nahid said.

The teachers cannot deny responsibility for it, Nahid said. “Therefore, legal action can be taken against them.”  

“An acting principal remained in the position for long in the absence of a principal. We have asked them to appoint a principal following the rules but they have not. This is also an act of irregularity in running the institution.”

Nahid said the school admits students going beyond the rules. The government has fixed the number of students for admission. But we came to know that they charge Tk 1 million for the admission of a child.”

Nahid reminded the school authorities of a lottery system for admission. “You must be aware of that.”

But Viqarunnisa admits many more students than the number approved by the government, which means they follow “unfair” means, according to the minister.

“The school has opened several branches without our approval. We came to know all these through media reports and various other sources; but none of the guardians come to us to complain as they are scared.”