Police use sound grenades to break up primary teachers’ protest in Dhaka

Police have been accused of firing sound grenades to disperse a procession of government primary school teachers in Dhaka.

The teachers, who have been demanding that their pay be upgraded to the 10th grade along with two other benefits, were marching towards Shahbagh on Saturday when police blocked their way.

Witnesses and organisers said that when the protesters refused to turn back, officers fired sound grenades near Shahbagh Police Station to break up the crowd. Several teachers were reportedly injured.

After being stopped, the demonstrators returned to the Central Shaheed Minar, where they have been staging a sit-in since the morning.

Mohammad Shamsuddin Masud, convenor of the Primary Teachers’ Demand Implementation Council, said “many teachers were injured in Shahbagh when police attacked the procession”.

However, Khalid Monsur, chief of Shahbagh Police Station, denied that anyone had been hurt.

 “The teachers tried to move towards the Jamuna area and were turned back. We have not received any information about injuries,” he said.

Around 4:45pm, another teacher leading the movement Muhib Ullah told bdnews24.com that they had brought 50 injured teachers to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

 “They were hurt by sound grenades and tear gas shells,” he said, adding that several teachers had also been detained during the incident.

Earlier in the day, assistant teachers from government primary schools began a continuous sit-in at Dhaka’s Central Shaheed Minar, pressing for three demands.

The protest action is being organised under the banner of the "Primary Teachers’ Demand Implementation Council", a coalition of four teacher organisations.

Their two other demands are resolving the complications over higher-grade promotions after 10 and 16 years of service, and ensuring 100 percent departmental promotions.

The other participating organisations include the Bangladesh Primary Teachers’ Association (Kashem-Shahin faction), the Bangladesh Primary School Assistant Teachers’ Association and the Assistant Teachers’ 10th Grade Implementation Council.

Hannan Masud, senior joint chief coordinator of the National Citizens’ Committee expressed solidarity with the teachers’ sit-in at the Shaheed Minar in the afternoon.

Around 3:30pm, the protesting teachers initiated the march towards Shahbagh to hold their “pen surrender” programme, symbolically giving up teaching duties in protest.

Before the march, movement leader Shamsuddin Masud told bdnews24.com: “Our long-standing and just three-point demands remain unmet.

 “We are compelled to carry out this peaceful pen-surrender programme. After completing it, we will return to the Shaheed Minar.”

Bangladesh currently has 65,567 government primary schools employing around 384,000 teachers, according to the Directorate of Primary Education.

On Apr 24, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education initiated a proposal to upgrade the salaries of head teachers from grade 11 to grade 10, and assistant teachers from grade 13 to grade 12. However, assistant teachers remain dissatisfied, prompting the “Primary Teachers’ Demand Implementation Council” to announce the sit-in from Saturday.

Meanwhile, another faction of assistant teachers under the banner of the Primary Assistant Teachers’ Unity Council gave the government a deadline until Nov 15 to meet their three demands -- salaries under the 11th grade, resolution of higher-grade complexities and guaranteed full departmental promotion.

They announced a series of protests if the demands are not met within the deadline: a half-day work stoppage on Nov 23 and 24, a full-day work stoppage on Nov 25 and 26, followed by a sit-in outside the Directorate of Primary Education on Nov 27.

The organisation has further warned that if there is no visible progress or government assurance by then, they will boycott examinations and begin an indefinite hunger strike from Dec 11.