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Published : 23 Jun 2026, 07:09 PM
Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon has said he is “still struggling” to make sense of the condition of the education ministry nearly four months after taking office, describing the situation as deeply troubling.
On Tuesday, he said there are more than 30,000 cases against the ministry.
“Of 65,500 primary schools, 50,000 have no head teachers. Did these vacancies emerge in 2026? Or did so many teachers suddenly retire?”
Referring to a 2017 case over the promotion of primary school head teachers, he said: “The case was very simple. About 32,500 teachers were to be appointed as headmasters. Then 287 teachers from nationalised primary schools said, ‘Include us under the same criteria’.
“You [administration then] challenged the issue over 287 people and left 32,500 schools without headmasters. If you believed those 287 were underqualified, there are PTIs where they could have been trained. Couldn’t the system be updated? Because of the challenge, 32,500 appointments never happened.”
At a meeting with officials of the Technical and Madrasah Education Division in Chattogram before the HSC and equivalent examinations, he expressed frustration over demands to introduce honours courses at colleges.
He said, “Everyone comes asking for honours programmes. MPs do the same. The subjects are usually psychology, philosophy, history and Islamic history and culture. They open nothing beyond these four or five subjects.
“I already have 56 public universities and 116 private universities. Why should these subjects still be opened in college after college?”
Recalling a recent UNICEF conference, he said MPs frequently demand universities, honours colleges and nationalisation of institutions, but rarely seek improvements to primary schools.
Calling educational institutions a “business” for many, he said schools receiving monthly government support of at least Tk 400,000 must be accountable for results.
The minister also stressed the need for dedicated examination halls, uniform question-setting across all nine education boards and greater sincerity from examiners when marking scripts.
