Hunger strike for salary scale upgrade

The indefinite hunger strike enforced by the assistant primary teachers rolled onto second day yesterday with the teachers vowing not to return to their workplaces until their demand for upgrading their salary scale is met.

Under the banner of “Bangladesh Primary Assistant Teachers' Grand Alliance”, several thousand assistant teachers of the state-run primary schools began their strike on Saturday at the capital's Central Shaheed Minar with a one-point demand -- fixing the trained assistant teachers' grade next to the trained head teachers' grade.

Some 27 teachers have already fallen ill and were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), Shahinur Al-Amin, one of the alliance leaders, told The Daily Star yesterday.

“We want the government to reduce the wage difference between head teachers and assistant teachers. We'll not go home until the government meets our demand,” he said.

He said there is a three-tier gap between the wage grades of assistant teachers and head teachers although both play almost an equal role in educating children.

The trained assistant teachers get salary under 14th grade of the wage board and the non-trained under 15th grade whereas the trained headmasters get salary under the 11th grade.

“We've been demanding for an upgrade for more than three years now, but the authorities concerned didn't pay any heed…,” said Shahinur, also president of Bangladesh Assistant Primary Teachers' Society.

And without solving the problem, he said, the Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) has recently forwarded a proposal made by the Public Service Commission to the primary and mass education ministry for elevating the head teacher's grade to 10.

The agitating teachers said if upgraded to 11th grade, the basic salary of assistant teachers would increase to Tk 12,500 from Tk 10,200 in 14th grade.

They said since the independence till 2005, the difference between the wage grades of assistant teachers and head teachers were only one-tier. But it started to increase afterwards.

Tapan Kuman Mandal, another leader of the alliance, said, “We have decided to pass the nights under the open sky and continue our fast-unto-death till the government meets our demand.”

He said although the DPE officials requested them in the last two days to call off their hunger strike, they are not leaving without getting an assurance from the ministry and the Prime Minister's Office.

This correspondent tried to get in touch with the director general of DPE for comments, but he did not answer his phone.