Govt to hold discussion with protesting teachers

The government is going to hold a discussion with government primary school teachers who have been staging a continuous sit-in programme in the capital with a three-point demand. The meeting is scheduled to take place at the Secretariat this evening, Sunday.

Officials from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education will participate in the discussion.

President of the Government Primary School Assistant Teachers’ Association Md Shamsuddin Masud confirmed the matter.

On Saturday, police attacked protesting teachers during their march at Shahbagh. At that time, more than 150 teachers were injured in baton charges, tear gas, water cannon and sound grenade blasts.

In protest of the incident, the teachers announced an indefinite work abstention in all government primary schools across the country starting from today, Sunday.

The announcement was made on Saturday evening by Shamsuddin Masud, convener of the Primary Teachers’ Tenth Grade Demand Implementation Council and central president of the Bangladesh Primary School Assistant Teachers’ Association.

According to the Directorate of Primary Education, there are 65,569 government primary schools in the country. More than 384,000 teachers are employed in these schools, and the number of students is about 14 million.

The three demands of the assistant teachers are; Fixing salaries in the 10th grade, resolving higher-grade issues after 10 and 16 years of service, and ensuring 100 per cent departmental promotion.