A recent investigation by The Daily Star found that a large section of DSHE officials from top tiers to the bottom harass the teachers for their appointment, promotion, transfer, leave and monthly pay order (MPO).

The malpractice continues even during the present caretaker government that has initiated serious anti-corruption drives in different sectors.

Through interviewing over two dozen officials, staffs and teachers related to the DSHE situated at the Shikkha Bhaban, it was gleaned that there are 'unwritten bribe rates' for everything at the DSHE.

A teacher has to pay between Tk 80,000 to Tk 1.5 lakh to high officials to ensure a transfer from a remote area to Dhaka. Tk 50,000 to Tk 1 lakh is charged for a transfer to any town, Tk 30,000 to Tk 40,000 for district to district transfer, upto Tk 1 lakh for enrolling teachers under the MPO, Tk 1.5 lakh to Tk 3 lakh for listing an institution under MPO, Tk 20,000 for issuing loans for computer and housing matters, Tk 1,000 to Tk 3,000 for approving loan from the provident fund, Tk 15,000 for a one-year leave, Tk 25,000 to Tk 30,000 for a two-year leave.

On April 17, the Rapid Action Battalion caught two DSHE head assistants Abul Kalam Azad and Amirul Islam red-handed when they were receiving bribe from a teacher.

Following this incident, Education Adviser Ayub Quadri directed DSHE Director General (DG) Prof Nazim Uddin on April 18 to form a vigilance team for regular monitoring of tasks at the DSHE but no such move has yet been initiated, education ministry sources said.

Prof Nazim Uddin attributed the 'bribery-friendly atmosphere' in the office mainly to severe shortage of manpower.

"I have to run the office with limited manpower. We have to deal with about 16,000 non-government schools, 3,000 non-government colleges and 7,000 madrasas. Every staff and official has to deal with a large number of tasks. In such a situation, teachers who are eager to get their work done early tend to bribe staffs and officials," Prof Nazim told The Daily Star.

Although service rules demand that an official should not serve in one office for more than three years, a large number of officials are serving at the same office for five to seven years.

The Shikkha Bhaban sources said a host of officials including two directors, five deputy directors, six assistant directors, a joint secretary, a programme director and a system analyst who have been serving at DSHE for over three years through lobbying during the immediate past BNP-Jamaat alliance government.

The staffs and officials serving an office for long are likely to gain influence and involve in bribery, said an official who joined the DSHE recently.

In early March, the education ministry directed the DSHE DG to take measures against all corrupt directors and deputy directors. The ministry also directed to transfer staffs and officers who are serving for more than two years but DSHE is yet to reply, education ministry sources said.

Teachers have to come to DSHE for affiliation of new educational institutions and arranging their salary under MPO, approval of new teachers' appointment, transfer, audit report, timescale, pension and salary re-fixation, introduction of a new department at an educational institution, selection for seniority and many other tasks.

But teachers from across the country, tired of making repeated approaches, are finally compelled to bribe DSHE staff for getting their tasks done.

"I went to Shikkha Bhaban at least 15 times from my home district Madaripur in last eleven months but officials did not enrol me for salary under the MPO. A DSHE clerk took Tk 18,000 from me but he is yet to arrange approval for my MPO listing. Now the clerk is demanding more money," an assistant teacher of a high school told this correspondent in front of the Shikkha Bhaban.

A syndicate of 20 officials who were the privileged beneficiaries during the immediate past BNP-Jamaat alliance government, are still serving in DSHE even after passing three to seven years there and they have continued cheating the teachers, said DSHE sources.

These officials with political motivation illegally sacked around two thousand teachers and stopped another ten thousand teachers salary payment during the five years of the immediate past BNP-Jamaat alliance government, said National Front of Teachers and Employees (NFTE), a platform of eleven teachers and employees organisations.

"The deep-rooted corruption in DSHE cannot be removed without changing its management system," Prof Quazi Faruque, convener and chief coordinator of NFTE, said.

He also blamed the lack of coordination between the education ministry and DSHE for increasing corruption and irregularities inside the DSHE.

In 2005, intelligence agencies submitted a report to the then government, saying that most of the officials of DSHE were corrupt and it was difficult to get a file signed without paying bribe.

The report identified 14 top corrupt officials and recommended stern action against them but no measures have yet been taken.