Tens of thousands of teachers and employees under an education programme run by the Islamic Foundation have gone unpaid for five months due to the government’s prolonged delay in finalising a related project and allocating funds.
A whimsical directive from the Islamic Foundation requiring all teachers and staff to open new bank accounts has further complicated the situation, which officials fear may delay payments even longer.
Although funds for the programme were finally approved earlier this month, disbursement is expected to take at least another week. Only then will around 76,000 teachers and staff begin receiving their salaries.
The programme employs 73,768 teachers, 1,500 general caretakers and 500 model caretakers across 560 model resource centres and 1,500 general resource centres under the Mosque-Based Child and Mass Education Programme.
Each teacher receives a monthly salary of Tk6,000 while general caretakers Tk8,000 and model caretakers Tk10,000. However, many will have to wait weeks to withdraw their salaries as the process of opening new accounts takes time, officials said.
Religious Affairs Adviser AFM Khalid Hossain, when contacted, said he was unaware of the fund crisis but assured immediate steps would be taken so that teachers receive their dues “as soon as possible.”
The programme plunged into crisis following the end of its 7th phase in December 2024, after the ministries of Religious Affairs and Finance failed to complete the procedures for the 8th phase, which was supposed to begin in January this year.
As the approval process dragged on, leaving teachers unpaid since January, the two ministries arranged an interim fund to cover four months’ salaries in May.
“They were paid for January to April from the Model Mosque and Cultural Centre Project fund,” said Bazlur Rashid, Director (Planning) at the Islamic Foundation.
However, the crisis persisted, and the teachers have not received salaries for the last five months, since May.
“If you don’t get paid at the end of the month, it becomes impossible to run a family,” said a frustrated teacher from Panchagarh, requesting anonymity.
Abdullah Al Noman, a teacher at Dakkhin Teligati Jame Masjid in Bagerhat, said his Tk6,000 salary was his only source of income. “This is injustice to people who depend on such small earnings,” he said.
Bazlur Rashid said Tk4,700 crore was allocated for the 8th phase in early October, which should finally resolve the programme’s financial crisis.
Confirming the allocation, Islamic Foundation Director General Abdus Salam Khan said: “Everything is fine now. It may take around two weeks to distribute the salaries.”
Khan admitted the delay in finalising the project and fund allocation stemmed from official errors in preparing paperwork, including spelling mistakes and procedural flaws. “Time was mainly wasted responding to queries about those mistakes,” he said.
However, several Foundation officials blamed the Director General’s negligence for the lengthy delay in obtaining approval and funds after he took office in October 2024.
The banking blunder
The Mosque-Based Child and Mass Education Programme had long operated through the state-owned Sonali Bank, with all participants holding accounts there.
But in 2024, then-Director General Dr Bashirul Alam abruptly decided to transfer the programme’s transactions to another state-owned bank, Rupali Bank, citing the presence of a Pubali Bank branch on the same premises as the Foundation’s headquarters in Agargaon, Dhaka.
The move was not implemented before his transfer, and his successor, Abdus Salam Khan, eventually enforced it two months ago—forcing thousands of teachers and employees to open new accounts with Pubali Bank.
“I see no logic in changing banks just because both the Foundation and Pubali Bank are in the same complex,” said a senior official. “The new DG should have scrapped the decision, but surprisingly, he carried it out.”
About the programme
The Mosque-Based Child and Mass Education Programme is one of the largest projects run by the Islamic Foundation under the Ministry of Religious Affairs for the development of morality and religious values.
Launched in 1993, the programme engages mosque imams in socio-economic and educational activities, offering pre-primary education for children and literacy training for dropouts and adults.
Between its 1st and 6th phases (up to 2019), it reached 21.5 million learners through pre-primary, basic Quran, and adult education centres, blending general, religious, and moral instruction.
The 7th phase (2019–2024), with a budget of Tk3,128 crore, aimed to enrol 4.32 million pre-primary students through 28,800 centres nationwide. It also operated 768 adult Quran education centres serving 96,000 adults, including prison inmates, and 44,200 basic Quran centres for 7.7 million school-going and drop-out adolescents.
In total, the project provided educational opportunities to over 12 million across Bangladesh.
