A section of government primary school teachers on Sunday observed a countrywide work abstention programme and a sit-in at the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital Dhaka, protesting at the police attack on them in the previous day while demanding pay hike.
Teachers in different districts observed the strike affecting the students, reported 抖阴精品鈥檚 districts correspondents.
The protesting teachers on Sunday night withdrew their work abstention programme from today but vowed to continue their sit-in until their demands are met.
Their three-point demand includes the upgradation of their pay scale to the 10th grade from the 13th grade, ensuring 100 per cent departmental promotion, and resolving issues related to higher-grade eligibility after 10 and 16 years of service.
On Sunday, they also demanded resignation of the advisers to the ministries of home and primary and mass education in the incident of police attacks on the protesting teachers.
Earlier, on Saturday, over 100 protesting teachers under the banner of Primary Teachers Demand Implementation Council were injured as the police charged聽 batons, hurled sound grenades and sprayed water on their procession in the capital鈥檚 Shahbagh area.
Two students gossip at an empty classroom at Nilkhet Government Primary School in Dhaka as a section of government primary school teachers observe a countrywide strike, protesting against the police attack on them and demanding pay hike, on Sunday. 鈥� Md Saurav
Rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra, 36 BCS (Non-Cadre) Head Teacher Association and Bangladesh PTI Officials Association also in separate statements on Sunday condemned the police attacks on the teachers.
Protesting at the police attack, the agitating teachers announced countrywide work abstention programme and sit-in in the capital for an indefinite period from Sunday.
Teachers at different government primary schools across the capital were seen observing the strike on Sunday.
No classes were held at Nilkhet Government Primary School, Shaheed Buddhijibi Dr Amin Uddin Government Primary School, Khodeza Khatun Government Primary School, Dhanmondi 2no Girls Government Primary School and Sher-E-Bangla Government Primary School on the day.
鈥楬ow can we take classes while the police attack and injure our helpless brothers and sisters on roads?鈥� asked Sher-E-Bangla Government Primary School assistant teacher Sharmeen Zaman.聽
A very few students were seen at these schools while they were either playing or chatting with each other.
抖阴精品 correspondent in Chattogram reported that no classes were held at many government primary schools in the district on the day.
In the morning, students were present at Kadamtali Abedia Government Primary School in the city, but teachers were not conducting classes.
Sahara Khatun, a parent who came to the school, said, 鈥楾eachers鈥� demands are fair, but such strikes should not last too long considering the welfare of the children.鈥�
抖阴精品 correspondent in Rangpur reported that academic activities at government primary schools in the district had remained halted since Sunday morning. 聽聽
Students were seen playing at most of the schools during school hours as teachers refrained them from attending the classes.
抖阴精品 correspondent in Rajshahi reported that in the district no classes were held at most of the government primary schools.
However, Helena Akhter, head teacher of Raninagar Govt. Primary School in Rajshahi city, said that there had been a little impact of the strike on her school as the assistant teachers at the school conducted classes partially.
In the capital, since Sunday morning assistant teachers had started to gather at the Central Shaheed Minar premises and by afternoon a few thousand teachers gathered there.
From the demonstration, a leader of the protesting teachers, Shamsuddin Masud, announced that protesters would not withdraw the work abstention and sit-in until their demands are met.
He also demanded resignation of home adviser retired Lieutenant General Jahangir Alam Chowdhury and primary and mass education adviser professor Bidhan Ranjan Roy Podder for the police attacks on the teachers.
Later, on Sunday night, after meeting with the primary and mass education ministry secretary, Abu Taher Md Masud Rana, and other officials, Shamsuddin said that they withdrew the work abstention from today, but they would continue the sit-in.
He added that a decision on their demands was likely to be made at a meeting at the finance ministry at 5:00pm today.聽
Pro-Bangladesh Nationalist Party non-government teachers鈥� forum Shikkhok Karmachari Oikya Jote president Selim Bhuiyan addressed the demonstration, expressing solidarity with the protesting teachers.
He issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the government to accept the demands of the teachers.
鈥榊ou [the government] will not sustain if our teachers take to the streets,鈥� he added.
The police on Sunday afternoon released five protesting teachers, who were picked up from Saturday鈥檚 demonstration, from the Shahbagh police station with an undertaking, said the police station officer-in-charge, Khalid Mansur.
Earlier this month, another section of government primary assistant teachers under the banner of the Primary Assistant Teachers Association Unity Council threatened to observe non-stop work abstention, sit-in and hunger strike from November 23 if their demand for upgrading the entry-level assistant teacher position to the 11th grade from the existing 13th grade was not met by November 15.
Most recently, the government on July 28 made the decision to upgrade the salaries of the head teachers of all government primary schools to the 10th grade.
Before the decision, the trained head teachers were paid as per the 11th grade and the head teachers without training were paid as per the 12th grade.
As per the Bangladesh Education Statistics 2024, published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics, the number of government primary school in the country was 65,567 in 2023.
At the schools, the number of teachers were 3,84,513 and that of students were 1,09,85,815.
