Primary school teachers give govt 7 days to meet demand

Teachers of government primary schools have deferred their movement until 31 January to give the interim government time to consider their demand of providing 10th grade facilities.

They gave the ultimatum on Friday evening after authorities told them to have patience for the time being as Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus was not present in the country to discuss their grievances.

However, if the government fails to take concrete actions to meet their demand within the stipulated seven-day timeframe, the teachers would go on indefinite hunger strike from 1 February, a teacher named Manibul Haque Basunia said Friday evening from a mass gathering in the capital.

They would also observe work abstentions by padlocking their respective institutions across the country, they threatened.

They, however, would not return to Dhaka to demonstrate, protest organisers claimed, following a visit to Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus’ office in the capital.

The visit proved futile as the teachers could not meet the chief adviser, nor find someone with the responsibility to accept their memorandum on demands, alleged Mahbubur Rahman, a member of the 10-member teacher delegation that visited CA’s office.

Mahbubur Rahman framed the “incident” as an “act of deception” by authorities.

Earlier, on Friday afternoon, teachers marched towards the Chief Adviser’s residence from a rally at the Central Shaheed Minar to press home their demand. Police intercepted the march at Shahbagh, and asked the teachers to send a small delegation to meet authorities for the avoiding chaos. Then, the teachers were taken to CA's office, instead of his residence, they alleged.

The teachers currently enjoy 13th grade facilities, which allegedly classify them as "third-class workers" and provide only Tk11,000 as monthly salary. Under 10th grade, the teachers will enjoy improved social status, and get Tk16,000 monthly salary.