Home
+
The blunder, which has drawn ridicule and criticism on social media, leaves ministry officials red-faced
Published : 09 Apr 2025, 05:22 PM
The Ministry of Education has come under fire after appointing two teachers -- both dead for over a year -- as principals of government colleges. The blunder, which has drawn ridicule and criticism on social media, has left ministry officials red-faced.
The Department of Secondary and Higher Education issued an order on Tuesday appointing BCS General Education cadre officers as principals at 135 newly nationalised colleges. Among those listed were two teachers who had passed away over a year ago.
Prof Mohammad Jamal Uddin, a physics teacher at Kurigram Government College, was appointed principal of Mir Ismail Hossain College in Kurigram. Prof Md Abdul Muttalib, who taught history at Carmichael College in Rangpur, was named principal of Pirgacha College in the same district.
Both teachers had died more than a year before the appointments.
Prof Md Ataul Haque Khan Chowdhury, acting principal of Kurigram Government College, confirmed that Prof Jamal Uddin died on Apr 12, 2023.
“His death was updated in the PDAS (Personnel Database Application System),” he said. “Now people are making jokes about his appointment. It’s unfortunate.”
Prof Jamal Uddin was also the father of Fairuz Sadaf Abontika, a law student at Jagannath University who took her own life in March 2023. He had posted about her death on Facebook shortly before his own.
His widow, Tahmina Begum, was stunned to learn of the posthumous appointment.
“All that we had is now buried in the grave,” she said. “My husband was brilliant -- he knew he would one day become a principal. But the official confirmation arrived two years too late.”
She added that their daughter Abontika never learnt of her academic success either. Her final LLB results were published on May 19 last year. She secured a CGPA of 3.65, ranking third in her department. By then, both she and her father had passed away.
Meanwhile, Prof Md Habibur Rahman of Carmichael College’s History Department confirmed that Prof Muttalib died on Dec 16, 2023.
The appointment order was signed by Md Mahbub Alam, deputy secretary of the college branch of the Secondary and Higher Education Division. Attempts to reach him on Wednesday were unsuccessful as his phone remained switched off.
Md Nuruzzaman, a joint secretary recently transferred from the division, acknowledged that the appointments had been rushed before Eid to resolve issues related to salary disbursements in colleges lacking principals.
“We worked to appoint principals for over 150 government colleges. Due to the urgency, 14th batch education cadre officers were assigned,” he said.
“The error likely resulted from outdated records,” he said, calling the appointments “embarrassing”.
