Recruitment begins for previously omitted candidates in primary school teacher posts

Jahid Hasan, a person with special needs from Mathbaria in Pirojpur, was not initially included on the recruitment list for assistant teachers in government primary schools. However, on Monday, he found his name published on the official website of the Pirojpur District Primary Education Office.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Jahid expressed his delight, “I can’t express in words how elated I am! My parents and elder sister are even happier than I am.”

Many others whose names were initially omitted are now being added to the respective recruitment lists across their home districts.

Based on the results of the Assistant Teacher Recruitment Examination 2025, the Directorate of Primary Education finally recommended 14,384 candidates for appointment across 61 districts, publishing the list on its website on 8 February.

In accordance with standard protocol, final appointments are made following background verification. On 24 September, individual District Primary Education Offices published the names of appointed candidates, setting a deadline of 1 October for them to join service.

However, it subsequently emerged that many candidates previously recommended were missing from the appointment lists. Candidates affected by the omission alleged that the number of excluded individuals exceeded 2,000.

Relevant sources indicated that a significant proportion of the recommended candidates failed to receive appointment letters due to adverse remarks submitted by an intelligence agency.

Following their exclusion, aggrieved candidates staged demonstrations in Shahbagh, Dhaka, demanding their appointments, whilst widespread criticism flared across social media platforms. Consequently, several previously excluded candidates have started appearing on updated recruitment lists.

Responding to queries from journalists at the Secretariat on Monday, Minister for Education and Primary and Mass Education, ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milan, stated that appointment letters are being issued in phases to candidates who received final recommendations for assistant teacher posts in primary schools.

He noted that this process would continue until 1 October, at which point the final count of excluded individuals will be determined, allowing for necessary steps to be taken.

Regarding the total number of exclusions, he added, “We simply do not know at this stage whether the final figure will be 20, 50, or 100.”

Elaborating further, the minister stated that 14,384 candidates had passed the recruitment examination. Among them, 530 individuals did not proceed with their applications voluntarily, as they failed to submit the required documentation—possibly having secured employment elsewhere.

According to him, to date, 13,854 final applications have been received. During the distribution of appointment letters through District Primary Education Officers, it was discovered that a number of candidates had changed their addresses. Updated appointment letters are progressively being uploaded to the website, reflecting ongoing improvements in the situation.

The Minister maintained that misinformation regarding the matter had begun circulating in various news media outlets.

ANM Ehsanul Hoque further informed the media that 817 candidates were awaiting appointment letters as of yesterday, with background verifications being conducted incrementally.

In light of the Minister’s statement that appointment letters are being distributed in phases until 1 October, the candidates who were omitted from the initial list have temporarily suspended their protest programme.

Bangladesh currently has 65,567 government primary schools catering to over 10 million students, with a teaching staff numbering nearly 375,000. Across these institutions, more than 36,000 head teacher positions remain vacant, along with several thousand assistant teacher posts.