Primary teachers: Appointment letters on 24 Sept, if police verification cleared

The long wait for candidates finally selected for the post of assistant teacher in government primary schools is coming to an end.

Administrative preparations for issuing appointment letters to the selected candidates have been completed.

The appointment letters will be issued in different districts across the country from tomorrow, Thursday (24 September).

Sources at the Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) said the appointment letters would be distributed by the respective district primary education offices.

Recommended candidates will collect their appointment letters directly from their respective district offices. After receiving the appointment letters, the candidates will have to join their respective district education offices on 1 October. As announced earlier, their placement is scheduled to begin on 4 October.

Lalmonirhat District Primary Education Officer Mominul Islam confirmed receiving a letter from the directorate. However, he declined to comment on what the instructions for issuing the appointments contained.

Meherpur District Primary Education Officer Sukumar Mitra said the directorate had instructed them to send the appointment letters by registered post from 24 September. District offices are completing all necessary preparations for distribution.

The assistant district primary education officer of Cox’s Bazar said, “We have received the necessary instructions from the Directorate of Primary Education. We will start issuing the appointment letters from the scheduled date, 24 September, in accordance with the rules.”

Special instructions have been issued regarding the issuance of appointment letters. A district primary education officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said only those whose police verification reports had been positive would receive appointment letters. Appointment letters would not be issued if any negative or adverse information was found during verification.

In addition, fulfilling other preliminary conditions related to the appointment has also been made mandatory. Appointment letters will be issued only after the information on candidates’ medical examinations, drug tests and verification of educational certificates is finally matched and confirmed.

The Directorate of Primary Education is trying to start training for the new teachers after their placement, according to sources. An official at the directorate, speaking on condition of anonymity, said training was an important part of the job. Efforts were being made to start the training immediately after the teachers were placed. The teachers will mainly undergo two months of training and will be able to take classes directly at schools after completing the training. However, the date for the start of the training has not yet been finalised. Authorities are examining whether the training can be started from 4 October, the day of the placement.

The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education published the final results of the assistant teacher recruitment on 8 February this year. A total of 14,384 candidates were finally selected for the post of assistant teacher in the examination. However, the candidates are set to receive their appointment letters more than seven months after the results were published.

Although the medical examinations and drug tests were completed quickly, the field-level verification process took additional time. The entire recruitment process was significantly delayed due to multiple rounds of police verification and the sudden political change in the country.

As the final appointments remained stalled for a long time, the candidates faced deep uncertainty and mental distress. The recommended candidates submitted memorandums to the directorate and the ministry several times, demanding that the recruitment process be completed quickly. Later, taking a firm position in support of their demands, the candidates staged a sit-in on the streets at Shahbagh in the capital on 2 August. On the same day, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education took prompt action and issued an official notice announcing new dates.

There is currently a severe teacher shortage in more than 65,000 government primary schools across the country. Regular teaching activities are hampered at many schools due to a lack of necessary teachers. People from education sector believe that when the newly selected 14,384 teachers join their respective districts and schools, the pace of learning for young students will return to normal and the existing teacher shortage at the field level will also be eased to some extent.