The posting of newly joined assistant teachers in government primary schools has been put off again. An order from the schools-2 branch of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, signed by deputy secretary Rowshan Ara Poly, has moved the posting date back and extended the teachers’ orientation training.
The order says the date in the posting order for the newly appointed teachers is set at 18 October 2026 in place of 11 October, and the orientation training is extended to 15 October. It asks for the necessary further steps to be taken.
The new teachers were to have orientation training after joining at their district primary education offices on 1 October. Under the original plan they were to be posted on 4 October; that was first changed to 11 October. It has now been put back a second time, by another week, to 18 October.
The final results of the recruitment were published on 8 February, when 14,384 people in 61 districts were recommended for appointment as assistant teachers. After health checks, dope tests, police verification and other checks, appointment letters began to be issued from 24 September. Because a large number of those recommended were not on the first list, protests began, and most were then given letters in stages.
By the latest count, 13,831 people submitted the required papers and 13,748 of them received appointment letters. But 918 of those did not join on the appointed day, 1 October, and 553 never submitted the papers. In all, 1,471 did not take up the post.
According to the latest information, 83 candidates have still not received appointment letters even after the checks. One of them said a writ petition to the High Court was being prepared on behalf of 31 of them. If their complaints are not settled there is a risk of fresh legal complications over the recruitment.
The recruitment was completed amid a shortage of teachers in government primary schools. With more than 36,000 head teacher posts vacant, a process is also under way to fill them by promoting assistant teachers, so more assistant teacher posts are likely to fall vacant. Against that background there are calls for a quick end to the repeated changes of the posting date and to the uncertainty of the candidates who have not received letters.
Repeated attempts were made to reach deputy secretary Rowshan Ara Poly to ask whether there was any specific reason for the delay, but no comment could be obtained. A request sent later to her WhatsApp number also went unanswered.
Several officials of the Directorate of Primary Education, speaking on condition that their names and posts not be published, said the process of filling the more than 36,000 vacant head teacher posts by promoting assistant teachers was under way, and that this was causing some delay in posting the new assistant teachers.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report