Students Absent, Yet MPO Salaries Continue Unabated

In Netrokona, the science departments of several colleges exist largely on paper. While students remain enrolled at the secondary level, enrolment in science subjects plummets dramatically at higher secondary level. Classrooms remain empty, laboratories locked, and equipment left to rust—yet MPO-registered teachers and staff continue to receive their full salaries. This student absence results in an annual wastage of millions of taka in government funds.

Among the district’s 45 colleges, 11 are government-run, 19 are MPO-registered, and 15 are non-MPO. Disturbingly, seven MPO colleges no longer have active science departments.

According to the district education office, 6,801 students are expected to sit for the 2026 Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams from government and MPO colleges. Yet only 908 students are enrolled in science subjects—less than one-sixth of the total.

Despite this, 136 science teachers are posted across 23 government and MPO colleges. In a glaring mismatch, 11 of these colleges have fewer than ten students, and one college currently has no science students at all. Over the past three years, this pattern has persisted, yet annual spending on science departments exceeds 20 million taka.

Further analysis shows that over half of the district’s science students are concentrated in just two institutions—Netrokona Government College and Netrokona Government Women’s College, with a combined 530 students.

Laboratory conditions are equally alarming: many labs remain locked, equipment is damaged or obsolete, and in some cases, there are no qualified teachers available to conduct practical lessons. According to the 2021 Ministry of Education guidelines, a minimum of 20 students is required to sustain a college science department, yet enforcement remains weak.

Experts argue that without career counselling from secondary school, modern labs, scholarships for underprivileged students, teacher training, and strategic staff redistribution, the decline of science education cannot be reversed.

College principals allege that political influence ensures MPO registration, making it difficult to reduce staff even when student numbers dwindle. Shaila Parveen Shraboni, a computer science student at Netrokona University, warns that if rural science education continues to decline, the country will face a serious shortage of qualified students for science-based higher education over the next decade, affecting technology, engineering, medical research, and innovation.

Netrokona Government College Principal Md. Abu Taher Khan emphasises, “Science departments in colleges with no students should be merged with others to prevent wasteful expenditure.” Meanwhile, Moyshree’s Mymensingh regional director A.K.M. Alif Ullah Ahsan has stated that measures will be taken to optimise MPO allocations and improve student enrolment, though teacher transfers between colleges remain restricted.