Assistant teachers of government primary schools have resumed protests due to the lack of assurance for the implementation of the desired grade. On Saturday (8 November), the demonstration began at 9 a.m. at the central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka. Earlier, on Friday, Mohammad Shamsuddin Masud, president of the Bangladesh Primary School Assistant Teachers Association, announced the protest in a statement outlining three key demands of the assistant teachers.
The teachers’ demands include securing a salary at the tenth grade, removing complications in higher grade promotions after 10 and 16 years of service, and guaranteeing 100 percent departmental promotions.
Khayrun Nahar Lipi, General Secretary of the Bangladesh Primary Teachers Association (Shahin-Lipi), said, “On Saturday, 20,000 teachers will stage a demonstration at Shaheed Minar to demand tenth grade salaries, higher grades, and promotion rights. We will continue our protest until our demands are met. This time, we will return home only after securing our rights on the streets.” Currently, there are 384,000 teachers working across 65,567 government primary schools nationwide.
The Ministry of Mass Education, through an order on 24 April, stated that headteachers receiving an 11th-grade salary would be upgraded to the tenth grade, and those receiving a 13th-grade salary would be upgraded to the 12th grade. However, assistant teachers remain dissatisfied with this arrangement.
Other participating organisations include the Bangladesh Primary Teachers Association (Kashem-Shahin), Bangladesh Primary School Assistant Teachers Association, and the Assistant Teachers Tenth Grade Implementation Council. Assistant teachers recruited in the third phase in the Dhaka and Chattogram divisions will also join the movement.
GLIVE/TSN