Pension payments for 65,000 retired teachers to begin in August: Education minister

Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon has said the government will begin distributing pension payments for retired teachers from August as part of a major financial initiative aimed at clearing long-standing arrears and reducing delays in retirement benefits.

Speaking as the chief guest at a views-exchange meeting on the 2026 HSC and equivalent examinations at Chattogram College auditorium today (23 June), he said the initiative has allocated Tk200 crore in the current budget.

He said the initiative arranged a Tk2,000 crore bond with Finance Ministry support. Payments will start in August for about 65,000 retired teachers and later expand to nearly 2 lakh pensioners.

The meeting was organised by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Chattogram, and chaired by its chairman Prof Abdullah Al Mamun Chowdhury.

He said many retired teachers are forced to wait years to receive their retirement benefits, which is both painful and undignified. The government, he added, is working to establish a sustainable financial framework to end the backlog in pension payments.

"We do not want any teacher to suffer for years after retirement just to receive their rightful dues. We want to start this process from August," he said.

The minister also stressed accountability in MPO-enrolled institutions, noting the government spends at least Tk48 lakh annually per school or madrasa. He said if an institution records a 100% failure rate, responsibility lies with its teachers and management.

He warned that action would be taken to ensure proper use of public funds, adding that persistently underperforming institutions may have teachers transferred through the Non-Government Teachers' Registration and Certification Authority (NTRCA) mechanism.

The Department of Inspection and Audit (DIA) will also play a role in ensuring transparency in the use of government funds, he added.

On exam malpractice, the minister said the government is taking a strict stance against cheating, noting rising use of digital methods in irregularities.

He added that CCTV cameras are now mandatory in all institutions and footage must be preserved for review if complaints arise.

He said the 1998 examination law has been amended with stricter provisions, holding teachers and officials responsible for exam malpractice instead of students alone, and warned that negligence could lead to up to 16 years' imprisonment.

To ensure transparency in answer script evaluation, he said scripts will be randomly selected from different boards for re-evaluation to verify examiners' marking accuracy.

Special guest Land Ministry and Chattogram Hill Tracts Affairs Minister Barrister Mir Mohammad Helal Uddin said the education system is shifting from knowledge-based to skills-based learning. He also raised concern over primary school absenteeism, noting cases where over 50% of teachers were absent during surprise inspections.