PM promises hassle-free retirement benefits for teachers

Prime Minister Mr. Tarique Rahman has said retired teachers will no longer have to visit government offices to receive their retirement benefits. The money will be transferred directly to their bank accounts online without hassle or intermediaries. The government has paid retirement and welfare benefits to 70,119 retired teachers and employees of private schools, colleges and madrasas under a “special arrangement”. They had been deprived of the benefits since 2022.

Speaking at a programme at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in Dhaka on Saturday, Mr. Tarique Rahman said the beneficiaries had received part of the funds accumulated under the Private Educational Institutions Teachers and Employees Welfare Trust and the Retirement Benefit Board after nearly four years. Criticising the harassment faced by teachers in receiving their dues, the prime minister said, “If teachers have to pay bribes or visit offices repeatedly to withdraw their money, it is not only harassment of teachers but also reflects our national failure.”

He said the two funds had been weakened through alleged irregularities, including fake indexes, transferring welfare funds to weak banks and damaging technological infrastructure, leaving teachers without payments since 2022. The government has allocated Tk 2,035 crore 86 lakh to clear the accumulated dues, with the money being transferred to teachers’ bank accounts across all 64 districts through the iBAS++ system.

Recalling late former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, Mr. Tarique Rahman said she had established the Teachers and Employees Welfare Trust in 1991 and the Retirement Benefit Board in 2002. He said she initially allocated Tk 14 crore and gradually built the funds to Tk 89 crore. He also praised teachers for their contribution to society, saying, “Teaching is the only profession that creates all other professions.”

Govt working to ensure healthcare for marginalised people

Earlier, at the inauguration of the newly constructed 15-storey Building-2 of the 500-bed National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Prime Minister Mr. Tarique Rahman said mutual trust, respect and compassion among doctors, patients and patients’ relatives are essential for improving healthcare. “If doctors feel insecure, or patients and their relatives do not have trust and respect for doctors, we cannot stop people from going abroad for treatment merely by developing hospital infrastructure,” he said.

He said modern healthcare should combine advanced technology, skilled human resources, good governance and appropriate policies to provide accessible, affordable and quality treatment to everyone. Mr. Tarique Rahman said the government was working to ensure healthcare for marginalised communities and had begun developing an electronic health card-based referral system so patients in remote areas would not have to travel to Dhaka at great expense.

The government has also started establishing full-fledged primary healthcare units in every union and plans to upgrade every upazila hospital to 151 beds in phases during its tenure. Recalling Begum Khaleda Zia, he said she had laid the foundation stone of the National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital on October 23, 2006. The prime minister also stressed the importance of humane behaviour by doctors, saying technology can diagnose diseases but cannot replace doctors’ ability to understand and reassure patients facing fear, anxiety and mental distress.