Senior government officials on Sunday said that the salaries and status of teachers should be increased in the country.
While observing World Teachers’ Day, 2025, they also said that it was very difficult for the teachers to live with the salaries they got.
They made the remarks at an event organised by the Secondary and Higher Education Division under the education ministry at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital Dhaka to mark the day with the theme — recasting teaching as a collaborative profession.
Special guest at the event professor Bidhan Ranjan Roy Podder, the interim government’s adviser for the primary and mass education ministry, emphasised increasing salary for the teachers and their dignity.
Mentioning that the government had set pay scales for all public professionals as per their positions, he said that ‘no matter how much we verbally respect the teachers, if we see the position of the teachers in terms of the scale, truth will be revealed.’
In the teachers’ pay structure, the government primary school teachers are at the bottom position at the 13th grade like the computer operators but lower than the accountants working at the upazila headquarters who are at the 12th grade, the adviser said.
Expect the university teachers, the situation is almost the same for other teachers, he added.
Bangladesh University Grants Commission chairman professor SMA Faiz, who was also a special guest at the event, said that it was very difficult for the teachers to live with the salaries they got in Bangladesh.
Mentioning some neighbouring countries, he said that the salaries of teachers were the lowest in this country compared with those in those countries.
‘It is time to increase their salaries,’ he said and added that meritorious candidates had to be recruited in teaching profession.Â
While delivering speech as the chief guest, the interim government’s adviser for the education ministry professor Chowdhury Rafiqul Abrar said that they had taken initiative for bringing new educational institutions under the monthly payment order scheme.
He also said that they had taken steps to appoint the head teachers and principals through the Non-Government Teachers Registration and Certification Authority to establish leadership based on competency.
The education ministry has also taken an initiative to publish a white paper on the irregularities in the sector, he added.
The event was also attended by Susan Vize, head of office and country representative to UNESCO Dhaka, Technical and Madrassah Education Division secretary Muhammad Rafiqul Islam and ICESCO director general Salim M Al Malik. Secondary and Higher Education Division secretary Rehana Parveen chaired the programme.Â
At the event, 12 nominated teachers were honoured for the year 2025.