Teachers' 'shutdown' programme begins across country

The Primary Teachers' Demand Implementation Council has started a 'shutdown' programme across the country from Wednesday due to the lack of visible progress in implementing the three-point demands of government primary school teachers. At the same time, the programme is being carried out in protest against the issuance of show cause notices to three teacher leaders. This has postponed the annual exams for the third consecutive day.

On Tuesday (December 2), convener Mohammad Shamsuddin said that there is no progress in implementing the government's promises, rather the leaders have been served show cause notices. Therefore, there is no choice but to strengthen the nationwide movement.

The teachers alleged that in light of the promise made in the press release of the Ministry of Finance, the three demands have been pending for 22 days. Due to the lack of visible initiatives, they have announced to boycott the exams and continue the 'complete shutdown' programme.

Organization sources said that the movement will continue if the three-point demands of assistant teachers, including grade 11, are not met. In addition, due to the presentation of the demands, convener Md. Abul Kasem, Mohammad Shamsuddin Masud, Khairun Nahar Lipi, Md. Mahbubur Rahman and some teachers of the 2023 and 2025 batches have expressed their anger over the demotion of teachers.

They have announced to hold a protest rally in front of every upazila education office in the country at 11 am today.

The teachers have three demands—

1. Raising the salary scale of assistant teachers to the 10th grade.

2. Removing the complexity of getting higher grades on completion of 10 and 16 years.

3. Making arrangements for 100% departmental promotion from assistant teachers to the post of principal.

According to the Department of Primary Education, there are 65,569 government primary schools in the country. More than 384,000 teachers are working here. Although the principal teachers are paid in the 10th grade, the assistant teachers are still in the 13th grade. They have been making several demands, including grade improvement, for a long time.

Earlier, teachers held a sit-in programme at the Central Shaheed Minar from November 8-12. During that time, more than 150 teachers were injured in clashes with the police. Later, the movement was suspended on the assurance of the government, but due to lack of progress in implementing the promise, the teachers have returned to the strike.