Photo: Collected
All head teachers of government primary schools across the country will be granted the status of second-class gazetted officers in the 10th grade. They will be entitled to this status and its associated benefits from March 9, 2014. The Supreme Court’s four-member Appellate Division bench, led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, passed the order on Thursday after disposing of a review petition filed by the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education.
Senior lawyer Barrister Salauddin Dolon represented the teachers during the hearing in the Appellate Division. Earlier, on February 26, 2019, the High Court directed the government to grant head teachers of government primary schools a salary scale in the 10th grade along with gazetted officer status. The court ordered that this decision be implemented from March 9, 2014, for both trained and untrained head teachers.
Lawyer Salauddin Dolon had stated to the media at the time that although the head teacher position was a second-class post, they were being paid in the 11th and 12th grade salary scales. However, other second-class employees in various ministries and departments received their salaries in the 10th grade according to the national pay scale. As a result, while the government had upgraded the status of primary school head teachers, they were deprived of their rightful salary grade.
On March 9, 2014, the government announced the upgrade of head teachers of government primary schools to second-class status. On the same day, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education issued a notification. However, later the ministry decided to fix the salary scale for trained head teachers in the 11th grade and for untrained head teachers in the 12th grade.
This led to protests by various organizations, including the Bangladesh Government Primary School Head Teachers' Association. Subsequently, on March 4 of the previous year, 45 aggrieved teachers, including the president of the association, Riaz Parvez, filed a writ petition in the High Court challenging the decision to set the salary scale at the 11th and 12th grades.
Messenger/JRTarek
