Primary Teachers to Meet Finance Ministry Today Over 3 Demands
Agitating primary school teachers will sit with officials from the Finance Ministry today, Monday, to press for their three-point demands. A decision on the issue could emerge from the meeting at the secretariat.
The meeting follows a session with the Primary and Mass Education Ministry on Sunday evening, where leaders of the Primary School Teachers' Demands Implementation Council and Primary Assistant Teachers' Association Unity Council attended. The Education Ministry Secretary Abu Taher Md. Masud Rana chaired the discussion.
After the meeting, General Secretary of Bangladesh Primary Teachers' Association (Shahin-Lipi) Khairun Nahar Lipi announced resuming the boycott, just hours after suspending it. At 10:30pm Sunday at Central Shaheed Minar, Lipi said to assembled teachers, "It was stoppe d under pressure from intelligence agencies and the primary education secretary. My job can go; I withdraw the suspension. The sit-in at Central Shaheed Minar will continue."
She urged primary teachers nationwide to join at Shaheed Minar to make the movement successful.
Earlier, at 9:30pm, after the Education Ministry meeting, Primary Assistant Teachers' Association Unity Council Convener and Central President of Government Primary School Assistant Teachers' Association Shamsuddin Masud announced the boycott suspension. But Shaheed Minar sit-in will persist, he said.
The Monday 5:00pm Finance Ministry meeting will discuss the demands, with a final decision expected, Masud added.
The movement escalated after Saturday's "pen surrender" at Shahbagh, where police fired sound grenades, tear gas, and rubber bullets, injuring over 100 teachers. Many fell ill from the tear gas and were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
The demands are: upgrading assistant teachers to 10th grade, permanent resolution of promotion complexities after 10 and 16 years, and 100% departmental advancement.
A Primary and Mass Education Ministry notification after Sunday's meeting said the session discussed the demands in detail. The ministry assured cooperation with the Finance Ministry for swift resolution. In this context, the teachers' leaders announced halting the ongoing boycott.
