About 44,000 applications for welfare benefits submitted by retired teachers and employees under the government’s Monthly Pay Order system remain pending due to a persistent financial shortfall in the Non-Government Teachers and Employees’ Welfare Trust, education minister ANM Ehsanul Haque Milon, in a written reply, ‘told Jatiya Sangsad on Sunday.

Responding to a starred question from Jashore-4 lawmaker Md Golam Rasul during the second session of the 13th Jatiya Sangsad, the minister said that applications submitted between August 2023 and June 8, 2026 had yet to be disposed of.

The welfare trust, established under the Teachers and Employees Welfare Trust Act, 1990, and the Teachers and Employees Welfare Trust Regulations, 1999, is financed through a 4 per cent contribution deducted from the monthly salaries of teachers and employees under the MPO system, he said.

According to the minister, the trust’s annual income currently stands at about Tk 684 crore, generated from members’ contributions and investment profits.

‘However, about Tk 840 crore is required each year to provide welfare benefits to retired teachers and employees, resulting in an annual deficit of approximately Tk 156 crore,’ he said.

In his written reply, Milon said that welfare benefits amounting to Tk 553.63 crore had been disbursed among 9,284 retired teachers and employees in the 2025–26 fiscal year.

He added that all applications submitted up to April 30, 2023 had been settled, and payments had been transferred directly to beneficiaries’ bank accounts through the iBAS++ system.

The applications submitted up to June and July 2023 have also been processed, and preparations for disbursing the payments have been completed, he said.