Teachers protesting under the banner of the ‘Primary Teachers' Demand Implementation Council’ began a "complete shutdown" of all government primary schools across the country on Wednesday.
The announcement came in a statement issued on Tuesday night by the platform, which has been demonstrating for the implementation of its three-point demand.
The demands include upgrading the pay scale of assistant teachers to grade 10, resolving complexities related to higher grade benefits after 10 and 16 years of service, and ensuring 100 percent departmental promotion from assistant teacher to head teacher.
According to the statement, despite assurances from the finance ministry, 22 days have passed without any visible progress in meeting the demands of government primary school assistant teachers. For this reason, the platform has declared a nationwide shutdown of all government primary institutions from on Wednesday.
It said teachers will continue boycotting examinations and enforcing the shutdown until their three demands are met.
One of the platform's leaders, Mohammad Shamsuddin, wrote in a Facebook post this morning that the "complete shutdown or locked-school programme" will continue until the demands are implemented."
The statement also said that as four conveners of the organisation -- Abul Kashem, Mohammad Shamsuddin Masud, Khairun Nahar Lipi, and Mahbubur Rahman -- along with teachers of the 2023 and 2025 batches have been issued show-cause notices for leading the movement, teachers will hold protest rallies in front of every upazila education office on Wednesday.
