United News of Bangladesh

Education Adviser Prof. Wahiduddin Mahmud has said that the long-standing hassle and inconvenience faced by MPO-enlisted teachers and employees of private educational institutions under the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education have been resolved. "This has been achieved through the introduction of the Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) system, which directly transfers salaries, retirement and welfare benefits to their bank accounts," he said. The adviser was speaking today at an event organised by the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education at the International Mother Language Institute in Dhaka. Dhaka's ties with Delhi won’t get stuck on single issue: Foreign Adviser Earlier, he inaugurated the online EFT-based transfer of MPO funds for teachers and staff. He also unveiled the online version of textbooks for the 2025 academic year on the NCTB website. The Education Adviser said, "Out of 523 books, we had to make corrections and additions to 431. Additionally, this year we opted to print the books domestically instead of outsourcing them abroad. As a result, it took some additional time." “We hope to ensure that all educational institutions receive the books within January,” he said. Bilquis Jahan Rimi, Additional Secretary, Budget-1 and National Programme Director of the Strengthening Public Financial Management Programme to Enable Service Delivery (SPFMS), made a presentation of EFT, while the session was presided over by Professor A B M Rezaul Karim, Director General of DSHE. "This initiative will eliminate delays, save time, and ensure financial transparency and accountability in the payment process," Bilquis Jahan Rimi said. Education Adviser warns of conspiracies in textbook distribution Future plans include integrating iBAS++ with the Madrasa and Technical Education Directorates and creating Personal Ledger (PL) accounts for public universities to facilitate salary payments via the EFT system. For the 2024-25 fiscal year, a budget allocation of TK 13,495.16 crore has been made for the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education. Of this, TK 4,329.97 crore has been allocated for private colleges and BDT 9,165.19 crore for schools. Additionally, TK 5,073.58 crore and TK 450 crore have been allocated to the Madrasa Education Directorate and the Technical Education Directorate, respectively. Currently, there are 19,847 MPO-listed institutions in the country, with a total of 398,068 MPO-listed teachers and staff. These include: 2,828 colleges with 68,949 MPO-listed teachers and 28,257 staff; 17,478 schools with 211,443 MPO-listed teachers and 89,419 staff; 8,229 madrasas with 138,559 MPO-listed teachers and 42,134 staff; and 2,282 technical education institutions with 16,557 MPO-listed teachers and 5,564 staff.

MetLife Bangladesh, a leader of life insurance company has launched a unique initiative, 3-hour claim decision service for COVID-19 death claims with coverage up to Tk 20 lakh. With this fast track service, along with receiving the claim decision in 3 hours, beneficiaries of deceased policyholders will also receive the claim amount in 3 working days through Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT). Also read: MetLife Bangladesh gets new General Manager At this stage, the service is applicable for only individual policies, said a press release.  This 3-Hour Claims Decision service can be availed by sending an email to  [email protected] with a simple set of documents. Beneficiaries will receive SMS notifications on the progress of their claim requests. More information will be available at its webpage: https://www.metlife.com.bd/three-hour-claims0/ Read IBBL gets insurance claims for deceased employees

Inter-bank cheque settlement and electronic fund transfer system of Bangladesh Bank remained suspended  since Tuesday last due to a technical fault in the optical fiber of Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL). According to official sources at the BB, one of the two servers, one located at the central bank and another at Bangladesh Bank Training Academy in Mirpur, became inoperative resulting in disruption in the electronic fund transfer inter-bank cheque settlement.    Also read:Banks to operate from 10am to 1 pm for general transactions ... Contacted Bangladesh Bank Spokesman Sirajul Islam said that the technicians of both BB and BTCL have been making their all-out efforts to resolve the problem. “But it is not possible to say when the problem will be resolved,” he said.  Official sources said the cheque clearing house at Bangladesh Bank was asked by the authorities to stop its function following the order of the government on lockdown. Also read:Lockdown: Banks to operate from 10am-12:30pm for general ... But after the change in the decision, when the clearing house was asked to resume system, it started experiencing problem in the server, said a source at the BB.