Primary teacher candidates denied appointment letters stage sit-in at Shahbagh

Recommended candidates for government primary school assistant teacher posts but denied appointment letters staged a sit-in at Dhaka's Shahbagh today (27 September), demanding their appointment letters.

The protesters took positions on the road in front of Shahbagh Police Station after marching from the Dhaka University Central Library around 11am.

Last night (26 September), the job seekers announced the protest at a press conference held at the Raju Memorial Sculpture on the Dhaka University campus.

They were holding the programme under the banner of "Teachers Across Bangladesh Denied Appointment Letters".

The protesters claimed that appointment letters were not issued to at least 2,000 candidates during the verification process, despite 14,384 candidates being recommended for appointment as assistant teachers in government primary schools.

SM Khokon, a protestor from Bhola, told The Business Standard that seven representatives went to the Secretariat after senior administration officials reached out to discuss the matter.

He added that the protest would continue until they returned.

Rubel Pradhan, a recommended candidate from Matlab South Upazila in Chandpur, told TBS, "I was recommended as an assistant teacher on 8 February. Later, despite having viva's for two Grade-15 government jobs in March and April, I did not participate, assuming I would join as an assistant teacher."

"I did not even join a job with the Bangladesh Post Office because I had a special passion for this teaching profession, which I pursued alongside tutoring," he said.

But today, after eight months, my appointment letter was not issued on the 24th, he said.

He added that four out of five candidates from his union did not receive their appointment letters.

According to a press release issued on Friday (25 September), the candidates have five demands, including re-verification of the documents of every candidate dropped during verification through a neutral and transparent process, an opportunity to defend themselves, an administrative appeal mechanism, and correction of administrative errors, reports Prothom Alo.

They also urged the relevant authorities to issue pending appointment letters by tomorrow (28 September).

They also demanded that the authorities publicly explain why the situation arose during the recruitment process and how such a large number of recommended candidates were dropped.