C T Online Desk: Demanding an 11th-grade pay scale, among other things, at the start of employment for assistant teachers, government primary school teachers will begin a full-day work abstention from Monday.
The Primary Assistant Teachers’ Unity Council announced that the program will continue until their three-point demand is met.
The announcement was made in a press release signed by Mohammad Shamsuddin, convener of the council and president of the Bangladesh Government Primary School Assistant Teachers’ Association, on Sunday.
Before this, teachers had observed a series of protests for their three-point demand: one-hour work abstention from May 5 to May 15, two-hour abstention from May 16 to Tuesday, and half-day abstention from Wednesday to Sunday.
The teachers’ three-point demand is: recognising the assistant teacher post as an entry-level position with a salary under grade 11; resolving complications regarding higher grade eligibility after 10 and 16 years of service; and 100% promotion to the post of headteacher along with timely promotions.
They have also demanded that, according to current regulations, schools remain closed on Fridays and Saturdays, and that primary scholarship exams be held exclusively for students enrolled in government primary schools.
Teachers stated that assistant teachers had long been demanding a grade 10 salary. Now, they insist that at the very least, the starting pay should be under grade 11.
Currently, approximately 375,000 teachers are employed in government primary schools. Until now, headteachers in these schools were paid under grade 11, while assistant teachers received grade 13.
Earlier, on March 13, the High Court, in a ruling, granted second-class officer status to 30,000 headteachers in government primary schools and ordered that their salaries be set under grade 10.
