Ullapara Correspondent:

A human chain was formed in front of Shaheed Minar in Ullapara on Monday demanding removal of Momena Ali Science School’s Headmaster Abdul Mazid due to his alleged corruption and irregularities including realizing extra fees, carrying admission and recruitment trade and humiliating to guardian.

After the demonstration, the agitating students and their guardians submitted a memorandum to the UNO of Ullapara seeking immediate remedy.

Those, who participated in the human chain said that, “Momena Ali Science School was once renowned. Today, it has become a den of corruption. We want a qualified headmaster to be appointed, fees to be fixed in accordance with government policies and the school to be made corruption-free.”

They complained that, the school authorities are ignoring the government-set salary (fees) chart and are collecting monthly fee of Tk 700 from students from class VI to X, while the government-set rates are Tk 200, Tk 220, Tk 240 and Tk 250 respectively. Guardians are in extreme trouble due to the excessive amount of fees.

A fourth-grade employee of the school has also been accused of behaving disrespectfully towards a guardian Kamrunnahar, which is alleged to have been instigated by the headmaster Mazid. The victim filed a written complaint with the school management committee’s president, but to no effect.

They further said, headmaster Abdul Mazid was reinstated in December 2024 after being suspended for a long time on charges of financial irregularities and moral turpitude. At that time, the then UNO Uzzal Hossain and the school president reduced the fees of the students from Tk 1,000 to Tk 800. In January 2025, the new UNO Abu Saleh Mohammad Hasnat again fixed the admission fee from Tk 4,000 to Tk 2,000 and the monthly fee from Tk 200 to Tk 250 as per government directives. But after 4 months, Headmaster Abdul Mazid started collecting Tk 700 from the students again in April.

In addition, although there is no provision for monthly exams in the school as per the rules of the education board, Tk 250 is collected from the students in the name of monthly exams. There have been further allegations that, quality education is being disrupted in the classrooms as there are more than 100 students in each classroom of the school instead of the capacity for 55 to 65 students.

The demonstrators have further alleged that, teachers are forcing students to buy specific guide books by ignoring the prescribed curriculum and are continuing the guide book trade by accepting money from multiple publishers. Physical and mental abuse of students has also become a routine matter.

According to reliable sources, as a result of this long-standing irregularity, two financial corruption cases of Tk 11 crore and Tk 6 crore are also being discussed against the former headmaster.

The parents demanded the intervention of the local administration and strict supervision of the education board for the smooth running of the academic activities.