Govt abolishes senior lecturer post in updated MPO policy

Qualifications for several key positions have been revised under the new MPO policy circular

The government has abolished the senior lecturer post in higher secondary schools and colleges by amending the MPO policy for private educational institutions.

Alongside this, the Ministry of Education’s Secondary and Higher Education Division has issued a circular revising the eligibility criteria for several posts, including principals of higher secondary schools and head teachers of secondary schools.

Senior Assistant Secretary Dipayan Das Shuvo of the division’s non-government secondary branch told bdnews24.com on Tuesday: “The circular has been issued by amending Appendix-G, which outlines the qualifications and experience required for recruitment of teachers and staff under the MPO policy for private schools and colleges.

“The entire appendix has been revised accordingly.”

A review of the circular shows that while the March 2021 MPO policy created the post of senior lecturer in higher secondary schools and colleges, the latest amendment has abolished it. Instead, lecturers will again be eligible for promotion to assistant professor, as before.

This amendment allows lecturers in higher secondary schools and colleges to be promoted after a gap of four and a half years, reinstating their earlier career pathway.

The qualification and experience required for the assistant professor position remain the same as those previously set for the senior lecturer role.

According to the circular, only MPO-listed lecturers in higher secondary schools and colleges who have completed eight years of satisfactory service will be eligible for promotion to assistant professor, based on a 100-point evaluation covering 50 percent of the sanctioned lecturer and assistant professor posts.

Other lecturers completing 10 years of service will move from Grade 9 to Grade 8 in the national pay scale, and after 16 consecutive years under MPO listing, they will qualify for promotion to assistant professor.

The salary grade for assistant professors will remain Grade 6, the same as that of the abolished senior lecturer position.

The revised policy also changes the qualifications for the principal post in higher secondary schools.

Previously, candidates had to be MPO-listed principals or vice-principals of similar institutions, assistant professors of degree colleges with three years of experience and 12 years of teaching experience, or senior lecturers of higher secondary institutions with similar experience.

Under the new rules, candidates holding a Master’s degree or a four-year Honours degree (with no more than one third division or class in their academic record) and serving as head teachers or assistant head teachers can now apply for the principal post.

Teachers with 13 years of experience, including two years as a head teacher, or 15 years of experience, including three years as an assistant head teacher, are now eligible to apply.

The qualifications for secondary school head teachers have also been revised.

Previously, only indexed head teachers or assistant head teachers of secondary schools, or indexed head teachers of lower secondary schools, with 15 years of total teaching experience and three years in an MPO-listed post, were eligible.

The amendment now allows senior teachers with three years of experience and a total of 17 years of teaching experience to apply for the head teacher post as well.