School Stipend: Make Nagad lone option for receiving it

The Directorate of Primary Education has proposed that stipends for school students be disbursed only through Nagad, a mobile-banking service. 

Currently, users of all the mobile banking services can get the stipends.

If the proposal is approved by the primary and mass education ministry, officials concerned across the country as well as the beneficiaries will be required to have Nagad accounts.

In a letter on January 1, DPE Director General Shah Rezwan Hayat requested the secretary of the ministry to revise the Primary Education Stipend Programme Implementation Guideline 2021, and the operational manual for primary education stipend implementation 2021.

The existing guideline says the stipends will be distributed to the active mobile banking accounts of students' parents or legal guardians.

The DPE proposal says the money should be given through active Nagad accounts.

According to the manual in force, parents or legal guardians will submit the number of an account of a mobile banking service along with other necessary documents to the class teacher during the admission or at the beginning of the academic year.

The parents can choose between Nagad, bKash, Rocket, SureCash, T-Cash and Upay.

The DPE proposal, if approved, will curtail the officials' and the parents' liberty to choose the service of their liking.

Students in orphanages and remote areas are given stipends through the upazila nirbahi officer or district primary education officer. The money is sent to their mobile banking accounts.

Contacted, DPE Director General Shah Rezwan Hayat said, "It is easier to monitor one single service provider. Their [Nagad's] performance is good."

Asked whether such a move may give preferential treatment to Nagad, he said, "We made the proposal because Nagad has links to the Bangladesh Post Office."

Since its inception in March 2019, Nagad has been operating with a temporary approval from Bangladesh Bank.

Abu Saeed Khan, senior policy fellow at LIRNEasia, a think-tank on information and communication technology, said Nagad was using the post office to gain profits.

"Public funds must not be used for making private profit. A private company is making profits by using a government organisation. The directorate has no right to curb the freedom of choice of [the stipend] recipients. Even the pensioners get money to the accounts of their preferred banks," he said, adding that pensioners earlier received the money only through the state-owned Sonali Bank.

He also opined that the DPE's move is a violation of competition law.

Farid Ahmed, secretary of the primary and mass education ministry, said he was yet to go through the DPE letter.

"We'll analyse their request and seek the Finance Division's suggestions. We will make a decision after that," he added.