Primary teachers to join on October 1: Shahbagh protest withdrawn on assurance

After staying in Shahbagh for a few hours on Sunday (August 2), the candidates withdrew from their protest after the issuance of a new notification by the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and assurances from senior officials.

Earlier, recruited teachers from all over the country gathered in front of the National Museum adjacent to Dhaka University demanding final recruitment and posting within this August. The program began with the reading of religious scriptures, the playing of the national anthem and a minute's silence in memory of the deceased candidates. As a pre-preparation, barricades and water cannons were kept ready by the law enforcement agencies in the Shahbagh area, due to which traffic movement was disrupted on one side of the road for some time.

According to the protestors, 14,384 assistant teachers who were finally nominated in 61 districts have not been appointed even after 175 days after the results were published. They were spending their days in extreme uncertainty as the final joining was delayed even after all the administrative steps were completed.

The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education issued a new notification on Sunday afternoon amid the teachers' sit-in program. In this, instead of the previously scheduled October 29, a new date for joining the concerned district primary education office was announced, one month ahead of October 1. The notification confirmed that the teachers would be posted the next day, October 2. In addition, timely distribution of joining letters and subsequent training were promised.

Expressing satisfaction with this step of the ministry, the recommended teachers suspended the program.

It is worth noting that at a press conference on Saturday, Secretary Md. Sakhawat Hossain announced the delay in the appointment due to administrative verification and said October 29. However, the next day, the administration revised the decision and brought the joining date forward by another month. On January 9 this year, the primary assistant teacher recruitment examination was held in 61 districts of the country, except for the three hill districts, and the final results were published on February 8.