Dhaka: Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid on Sunday slammed the dishonest teachers engaged in private tuition depriving students in their classrooms.

"Some dishonest people have been there in teaching profession. They teach students outside their classrooms in exchange of money," he said at a programme here marking the distribution of cheques among retired teachers intending to perform hajj this year.

The minister inaugurated the online distribution of retirement benefits and welfare allowances at Bangladesh Bureau of Education Information and Statistics (Banbeis) and talked to retired teachers of Tungipara upazila of Gopalganj, Companiganj of Sylhet and Kasba of Brahmanbaria through a videoconference.

In collaboration with Access to Information (a2i) programme, the Non Government Teacher & Employee Welfare Trust and the Non Government Teacher Employee Retirement Benefit Board jointly arranged the programme.

Nahid said there are also some teachers who tell students MCQ answers in examination centres. "What else can be worse than this education? The black sheep (dishonest teachers) were also caught and being brought to justice," he added.

About quality education, the minister said the standard of education has improved now compared to that in the past. "But, that's not enough. It has to be improved further."

He noted some 1,851 retired teachers and employees who have planned to perform hajj this year got a total of Tk 63.87 crore as retirement benefits and welfare allowance.

Nahid said 51,874 non-government teachers and employees got Tk 2,063.50 crore as retirement benefits and welfare allowances since 2009.