Primary Teachers Stage Protest at Shahid Minar Again Over Three Demands

Government primary school assistant teachers have once again gone on strike due to the lack of assurance for implementing the desired grade.

The protest began at 9 am on Saturday (8 November) at the central Shahid Minar in the capital. Earlier, on Friday, Bangladesh Primary School Assistant Teachers Association President Mohammad Shamsuddin Masud issued a statement informing about this. The statement outlined three demands of the assistant teachers.

The teachers’ demands are: salary in the tenth grade, resolving complications in higher grades after 10 and 16 years of service, and assurance of 100% departmental promotion.

Khairun Nahar Lippi, General Secretary of Bangladesh Primary Teachers Association (Shahin-Lippi), said, “On Saturday, 20,000 teachers will stage a sit-in at Shahid Minar demanding tenth-grade salary, higher grades, and promotion rights. The protest will continue until the demands are met. This time we will return home only after securing our demands on the streets.” Currently, 384,000 teachers are working in 65,567 government primary schools across the country.

The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education issued an order on 24 April stating that the salaries of head teachers in the 11th grade would be upgraded to the 10th grade and teachers in the 13th grade would be upgraded to the 12th grade. However, assistant teachers are not satisfied with this.

Other organizations participating in the protest include Bangladesh Primary Teachers Association (Kashem-Shahin), Bangladesh Primary School Assistant Teachers Association, and Assistant Teachers’ Tenth Grade Implementation Council. Assistant teachers appointed in the third phase in Dhaka and Chittagong divisions have also announced they will join the protest.

Khaborwala/TSN