Primary teachers: Another group begins work abstention today

A section of assistant teachers at various government primary schools have been observing a work abstention for the past three days, pressing for a three-point demand, including upgrade of their salary to the 11th grade.

The work abstention, called under the banner of the Primary Assistant Teachers’ Unity Council, will end today, Thursday.

Meanwhile, another group of teachers began an indefinite work abstention from today, seeking the immediate issuance of a notification upgrading them to the 11th grade ‘for now’, along with other demands.

This protest is being held under the banner of the Primary Teachers’ Demand Implementation Council.

Leaders of the group say the full-day work abstention will continue until their demands are met. Initially, the group had announced that they would begin the abstention from 30 November.

Mohammad Shamsuddin, a leader of the Primary Teachers’ Demand Implementation Council, told Prothom Alo today that they were enforcing the work abstention nationwide.

He said they would suspend the programme if their demand of upgrading assistant teachers to the 11th grade for now as per the statements of the ministry of finance is met along with their other demands.

Otherwise, the abstention would continue, and even the upcoming annual examinations will fall under this programme.

Reports of this work abstention have come in from schools in different parts of the country. However, not all schools are observing it. At 11:30 am today, this correspondent visited the Motijheel Government Primary School in Dhaka and found children running around and playing in the school grounds.

Headmaster of the school Nurjahan Hamida told Prothom Alo that today is the last academic day of the year for their school, and therefore they arranged a ‘class party’.

Later, while visiting the Ideal Model Government Primary School in the Segunbagicha area, several assistant teachers there said that their school was also holding a “class party” today. On Sunday, annual examination activities (co-curricular tasks) and classes will continue as usual.

It may be noted that the main annual examinations for primary schools will start on 1 December.

There are 65,569 government primary schools across the country, with more than 10 million (1 crore) students. The number of teachers is over 375,000.

There are 369,216 approved posts for assistant teachers, with 352,208 currently employed. As the academic year draws to a close, the teachers’ work abstention may impact the annual examinations.

At present, assistant teachers in government primary schools fall under the 13th grade of the national pay scale (starting basic salary: 11,000 taka).

Seeking an upgrade to the 10th grade along with two other demands, assistant teachers had earlier begun sit-ins at the Central Shaheed Minar and work abstention at schools at the beginning of this month.

After a meeting with the secretary of the finance division and the secretary of the ministry of primary and mass education during the movement, the protesting assistant teachers announced withdrawal of their programme.

Following the meeting, the government stated that the proposal from the ministry of primary and mass education to upgrade assistant teachers to the 11th grade had been sent to the national pay commission, where it is currently under consideration.

The Finance Division will take necessary measures once they receive the pay commission’s recommendations. As for the complexities around granting higher grade benefits after 10 and 16 years of service, the finance division will examine the matter once the ministry of primary and mass education submits a proposal.

Additionally, regarding the issue of 100 per cent promotion for teachers, the ministry of primary and mass education will take steps in line with existing rules of the ministry of public administration. Teachers then withdrew their programme, though many were divided over whether it should have been withdrawn on that basis. Now, the teachers are once again launching a work abstention.