Staff shortage hampers Rajarhat academic activities 

RAJARHAT, KURIGRAM, Sept 28: Secondary education activities in Rajarhat Upazila have been disrupted by a severe staff shortage, with a single acting education officer currently handling the affairs of three upazilas.

Kamrul Islam is serving as the acting secondary education officer in Rajarhat while also holding additional charge of Phulbari Upazila. His regular workplace is Nageshwari, meaning he is currently responsible for secondary education activities in all three upazilas.

As a result, regular monitoring, supervision and education-related services are being affected, said teachers and officials.

According to the Rajarhat Upazila Secondary Education Office, the post of upazila secondary education officer fell vacant after Abdur Rob, the regular officer, was transferred on May 25.
Mahathab Hossain served as acting officer from May 29 to September 11, after which Kamrul Islam took charge.

Meanwhile, Ayesha Siddika, academic supervisor at the Rajarhat office, has also been shouldering various administrative responsibilities alongside monitoring and academic supervision of educational institutions.

Office sources said several posts, including assistant upazila secondary education officer and office support staff, have remained vacant for years. Some posts have reportedly been vacant for six to seven years.

The shortage has left the office struggling to manage the administrative and academic activities of a large number of educational institutions with limited manpower.

Rajarhat currently has 39 secondary schools, 12 colleges, 28 madrasas and four non-MPO institutions. The upazila secondary education office is responsible for monitoring their academic activities, overseeing administration, preparing various reports and implementing government directives, among other services.

Teachers said the prolonged vacancies were affecting not only the office's administrative work but also regular monitoring and efforts to improve academic standards at educational institutions.

Lutfur Rahman Anshu, Head-teacher of Rajarhat Adarsha BL High School, said the absence of a full-time education officer had disrupted regular monitoring and support services.

“Monitoring, supervision and other support activities are not being carried out on time because there is no education officer. Even when we visit the office for urgent matters, we often face difficulties,” he said.

Kamrul Islam, Acting Secondary Education Officer of Rajarhat, said managing three upazilas had made it difficult to monitor all institutions regularly.

“I am handling the work of three upazilas. I have additional charge of Rajarhat and Phulbari, while my regular workplace is Nageshwari. Earlier, I also had to handle four upazilas, including Ulipur,” he said.

“It is not possible for one person to regularly monitor everything at so many institutions. The workload is very high because of the staff shortage, and coordinating the administrative and academic activities of three upazilas naturally comes with many limitations,” he added.

Rajarhat Upazila Nirbahi Officer Tanzila Tasnim said the long-standing vacancy was causing problems.

“I will raise the issue at the district meeting so that the problem caused by the vacant post of upazila secondary education officer can be resolved quickly,” she said.