Gazi Md. Gias Uddin Bashir:
A human chain was held in Jhalakathi with the slogan ‘Government secondary school entry level is 9th grade – this is not a demand, it is our just right’.
Teachers of government secondary schools participated in the human chain in front of the Jhalokati Press Club on Tuesday (September 2) afternoon.
Abhijit Shil, Mani Shankar Mandal and many others spoke at the event.
The speakers said that out of the five posts created together for holders of Masters’ degrees including Honours in the 1st pay scale of 1973, four were given first-class gazetted status, but the post of Secondary Assistant Teacher remained in second-class non-gazetted status. Although this post was declared gazetted in 2012 after a long period of discrimination, the entry grade 9 has not yet been implemented.
They alleged that despite having the same educational qualifications, college teachers are gazetted officers of the first class, while secondary assistant teachers are restricted to the second class gazetted status. As a result, many teachers are forced to retire without promotion. The speakers raised the question—“Where does this discrimination among teachers appointed with the same qualifications end?”
Teacher leaders also said that to eliminate inequality, it is necessary to introduce a four-tier academic hierarchy in secondary schools like colleges. In addition, improving the quality of secondary education is not possible without the formation of an independent Directorate of Secondary Education.
The teachers announced from the human chain that their movement will continue until the implementation of the 9th grade for the government secondary assistant teacher position. According to them, if these demands are accepted, secondary education will be elevated to an ideal level.
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