Government primary school teachers, who had initially suspended their indefinite work abstention, have announced to continue their strike across the country on Monday (November 10). The strike will remain in effect until further notice. In addition, teachers will continue their sit-in programme at Dhaka’s central Shaheed Minar.
Mahbubur Rahman, a leader of the Primary Teachers’ Demand Implementation Council, told Jago News on Monday morning, “Both our work abstention and sit-in programmes will continue. We have decided to maintain these actions until our demands are met.”
Earlier, on Sunday night (November 9), Council leaders had announced the temporary suspension of the strike following a meeting with officials from the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education at the Secretariat. They informed the media via press release that the strike would be “temporarily suspended.” The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and the Department of Information also issued press releases confirming the same.
However, the Council leaders reversed the decision in the middle of the night after facing strong opposition from teachers.
Regarding the suspension and late-night reversal, two Council leaders told Jago News that progress had been made during discussions, and their delegation was invited to meet officials from the Ministries of Primary and Mass Education and Finance. Based on that, they had promised the government a temporary suspension of the strike. “However, when the decision was announced at Shaheed Minar, the assistant teachers did not accept it. Facing their opposition, we had to change our decision. The teaching community was upset with the strike suspension, which is why we reversed it,” they said.
Mahbubur Rahman added, “Teachers are now looking toward today’s meeting. If the meeting results in positive outcomes, we will return to our schools. Otherwise, stricter actions will be announced.”
Meanwhile, primary school teachers, who are demanding a tenth-grade salary scale along with three other demands, are scheduled to meet with officials from both ministries on Monday. The meeting at the Secretariat will include officials from the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and the Ministry of Finance. A delegation of teachers will present the rationale for their demands.
When asked about the matter, Abu Taher Md. Masud Rana, Secretary of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, told Jago News Monday morning, “We have sent a proposal to the Ministry of Finance to grant assistant teachers the 11th-grade pay scale. It is under consideration. However, assistant teachers currently want the 10th-grade scale. Whether that is feasible or not, officials from the Ministry of Finance will directly inform the teachers.”
Regarding the renewed strike call, he said, “They had promised to keep the strike suspended. If they now do not keep their word, it would be regrettable. We hope teachers will suspend their strike and continue discussions. We have responded quickly and kept the dialogue open, so there is no reason for a strike.”