TEACHERS appear not to cease making the headlines and, that too, for no fault of their own. They have almost always taken to the streets to push for their demands, many of which appear legitimate, with the government almost always having drawn out the issue too long. It was teachers of non-government secondary schools listed with the monthly pay order scheme and employees in the institutions that took to the streets in October. The teachers chiefly demanded their house rent as a percentage of their basic pay instead of the fixed Tk 1,000. The movement of the non-government teachers ended with most demands having been somehow met after a long-drawn tussle, with a few dramatic turns, especially on part of the government. Now in November, it is the teachers of government primary schools. The assistant teachers have taken to the streets to push for their three-point demands 鈥� an upgrade of their pay scale to Grade 10 from Grade 13, promotion to the position of head teachers from among assistant teachers, and the resolution of issues related to higher grade eligibility after 10 and 16 years of service.
But the government鈥檚 response to the movement of the government primary teachers is heavy-handed. More than 100 of them were injured as the police used water cannons and stun grenades and charged at them with truncheons when they started moving towards the Shahbagh crossing from the Central Shahid Minar on November 8 and tried to break through a police picket in front of the Shahbagh Police Station. The teachers, banded under the Council for the Realisation of the Demands of Primary Teachers, sat in at the Central Shahid Minar in the morning to push for their demands, and they were moving towards the Shahbagh crossing to hold a protest that they called 鈥榯he renunciation of their pens.鈥� But what disturbingly happened was that the teachers had announced a programme of work abstention in all government primary schools for an indefinite period beginning on November 9. And about 65,500 government primary schools began facing academic disruption, which would affect the largest segment of students. The Annual Primary School Census 2023 says that there are more than a million students in government primary schools. All this suggests that such a huge number of students would face a serious blow, especially at the end of the academic session, if the government does not seriously take up the issue.
The government should, therefore, speak to the teachers and listen to their demands. It should talk the matter over with the teachers holding demonstrations and heed the demands that are legitimate. It does not look good that the teachers would always need to take to the streets to push for their demands. Regarding teachers, the government should do many things on its own.