Police charge baton, lob sound grenades, teargas to disperse protesters seeking appointment as asst teachers
The recommended teachers said the court ruling which cancelled their appointments was discriminatory
Police baton charged and fired sound grenades and teargas shells on protesting assistant teacher appointment seekers in Shahbagh to disperse them this afternoon (10 February).
The appointment seekers were recommended for government primary schools in Dhaka (under the third phase of recruitment) and Chattogram (fourth phase) divisions, before the appointments were cancelled.
They chanted slogans against the cancellation and demanded immediate recruitment.
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The protesters took position at Shahbagh intersection under the banner of 'Recommended Government Primary School Assistant Teachers (Third Phase – Dhaka and Chattogram Divisions)' around 1pm, disrupting traffic. Police dispersed them around 1:30pm using water cannon.
Around 3pm, police fired tear gas at the protesters. Traffic movement returned to normal for some time.
Later, around 3:30pm, the protesters came back and blocked the road from Shahbagh towards the Science Lab intersection, our correspondent reports from the spot.
As of 4pm, vehicles were plying on the road from Shahbagh towards Bangla Motor, and from Dhaka University and Matsa Bhaban towards Bangla Motor.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Ramna Division Asad Noor told TBS, "The police are removing the protesters who were blocking the road. However, a few women refused to leave the streets and sat on the road. We are trying to remove them."
Onlookers said at least 10 people were injured during the scuffle.
Fatema Amin, a protestor who came from Sariatpur, told TBS, "We have come here to get an appointment letter. Either we will be back home with the appointment later otherwise our dead body will go home. Nothing else happen."
The recommended teachers said the court ruling which cancelled their appointments was discriminatory.
"This very government recommended our recruitment, yet now our appointments have been cancelled. This is deception. We demand the immediate cancellation of this ruling and confirmation of our appointments," said one of the protesters.
Another protester, Sabbir Sadeq, declared, "We will not leave until our demands are met. We were told that the hearing would take place this week, but we do not accept that. A special court must be convened today itself to resolve the issue. Otherwise, we will not leave the streets."
Earlier on 6 February, the High Court cancelled the process of appointing 6,531 assistant teachers for government primary schools in Dhaka and Chattogram divisions.
The court also directed the authorities to start a fresh recruitment process based on merit.
The recruitment process had been completed in three phases, and the final results were published on 31 October 2024.
The court's decision came after a petition was filed by 30 unsuccessful candidates who challenged the recruitment process on the grounds of quota system violations.
The petitioners argued that the quota system implemented in the recruitment process was contrary to the government's subsequent order to abolish all previous quotas.
