An initiative has been taken to fill more than 32,000 vacant head-teacher posts at government primary schools nationwide, positions that had long been stuck in legal complications. Progress has finally emerged in filling this large number of vacancies, with the Directorate of Primary Education having formally begun the process. Officials say visible progress in this process could come within the next three months.
According to sources at the Directorate of Primary Education, work has already begun at the field level to prepare a gradation list of assistant teachers. Once the list is drawn up, it will be reviewed and verified. Any complaints received during this process will also be resolved. The revised list will then be sent to the Public Service Commission (PSC) through the ministry.
Once the PSC grants approval, the next stage of promoting assistant teachers to head-teacher posts will begin. The Directorate of Primary Education is working with the goal of achieving significant progress in the overall process within roughly three months.
Mir Abdul Awal Al Mehedi, director of the directorate’s Policy and Operations Division, said there had been legal complications, which have now been resolved. A gradation list is now being prepared at the field level for the promotions, and the remaining work will be completed soon.
The case that had stalled the promotions
Government primary schools have long had a shortage of head teachers. Even with posts vacant, large-scale promotions to fill them could not proceed, due to legal complications over the seniority and promotion of teachers at nationalized primary schools.
A large number of private primary schools nationwide were nationalized in 2013. After the teachers of those nationalized schools were brought into government service, complications arose over how their length of service, seniority and promotions would be determined. A court case was filed challenging the seniority and promotion provisions of the relevant rules.
Because of the case, uncertainty arose over who would be considered senior and who, based on that seniority, would be eligible for promotion to head-teacher posts. As a result, the promotion process for head-teacher posts remained stalled. After a lengthy legal battle, the Appellate Division, on July 2 this year, granted the state’s appeal regarding the provisions on seniority and promotion for teachers of nationalized primary schools. This resolved the legal complications created by an earlier High Court ruling and opened the way for promotions to head-teacher posts.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report