Primary Teachers Continue Work Abstention on the Eve of Annual Exams

Assistant teachers of government primary schools are continuing their work abstention over a three-point demand, resulting in academic activities being halted in about sixty-five thousand institutions across the country. Although the annual examinations are scheduled to begin on Monday (1 December), the teachers have warned they will not participate unless their demands are met.

Teacher leaders stated that unless the government takes effective steps by tonight, Monday’s annual examinations will be boycotted.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the Primary Teachers’ Demand Implementation Council said that despite assurances from senior officials, including the secretaries of the finance ministry and the primary and mass education ministry, no notable progress has been made in implementing the three demands, particularly the issuance of the 11th grade pay notification.

The statement expressed gratitude to colleagues nationwide for spontaneously observing a full-day strike on 27 November, adding that the sacrifices of Shaheed Fatema and over two hundred injured teachers would not be in vain.

Their demands include elevating the pay scale for assistant teachers to the 10th grade, resolving complications over higher grades after 10 and 16 years of service, and ensuring one hundred per cent departmental promotion from assistant teacher to head teacher.

On 27 November, the Director General of the Directorate of Primary Education, Abu Noor Md Shamsuzzaman, met with protesting teacher leaders and urged them not to boycott the exams. However, the teachers said the movement would continue until concrete assurance of meeting their demands is received.

Khaborwala/TSN