The assistant teachers of government primary schools on Saturday threatened to resume their movement if their demands for pay rise and promotion were not met by November 15.
They said that they would observe non-stop work abstention, sit-in and hunger strike from November 23 and would also reject examination duties.
Under the banner of the Primary Assistant Teachers Association Unity Council, they issued the warning at a press conference held at the National Press Club in the capital, said a press release from the council.
Their three-point demand includes upgrading the entry level assistant teacher position to the 11th grade from the existing 13th grade, removing the barriers to achieve higher grades for the teachers who are 10 years and 16 years into the job, and making provision allowing the appointment of all head teachers drawing from the pool of assistant teachers through promotion.
While presenting their statement, Shahinur Al Amin said that the current number of primary assistant teachers was around 3.8 lakh.
He mentioned that at the 13th grade an assistant teacher received total Tk 17,650 as salary which was insufficient for bearing all living expenses.聽
An upgrade of their salary scale to 11th grade would get an assistant teacher total Tk 19,825 as monthly salary, he said.
The primary teachers were demanding the least rise in their pay considering the capacity of the government, Shahinur also said.
While announcing their next programmes, Bangladesh primary assistant teachers鈥� society president Anisur Rahman said that if the government failed to meet their demands by November 15 they would observe half-day work abstention in November 23鈥�24, full-day work abstention in November 25鈥�26 and take position in front of the office of the Directorate of Primary Education on November 27.
鈥業f our demands are not met by then we will reject the exam duties and start fast-unto-death from December 11,鈥� he added.
The press conference was attended, among others, by Bangladesh Primary Teachers Association president Md Anwarul Islam.聽
The primary teachers, pressing their three-point demand, enforced a work-abstention programme of different lengths from May 5 till May 29 this year.
Earlier on February 10, a consultation committee on quality improvement of primary and non-formal education recommended upgrading of the assistant teacher position at the entry level to the 12th grade.
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.