Candidates recommended to the post of assistant teacher in government primary schools have taken up positions on Dhaka’s Shahbagh intersection to demand their immediate joining at their posts.
They gathered in front of the National Museum in Shahbagh from 11am on Sunday. Then they took up positions on the road in front of the museum. As a result, traffic was brought to a halt on one side of the road. However, police have arranged for traffic to travel in both directions using the other lane.
Although the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education has announced that recommended candidates can join from Oct 1, the candidates are demanding that they join in August, said Debabrata Sarkar, a protest leader.
He told bdnews24.com, "We had demanded to ensure our joining by Jul 29. But that did not happen. We want to join in August. We will not call off the protest unless a written notification is published with the specific date of our joining and posting at the schools.
"We received the final recommendation for recruitment six months ago, but the ministry has not made arrangements for our joining. They say different things at different times. Under these circumstances, we are being socially humiliated. The candidates who previously had other jobs have left them by now. As a result, we are living in inhuman conditions. Therefore, we our demand immediate joining."
The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education has ordered 14,384 candidates recommended for the post of assistant teachers in government primary schools to join their concerned district primary education office on Oct 1.
Previously, the ministry had said they would join on Oct 29.
The revised instruction was announced in a ministry notice issued on Sunday morning, according to Mohammad Asif Ahmed, information and public relations officer of the ministry.
“The joining date for assistant teachers has been revised and fixed for Oct 1,” he said.
A notice signed by Deputy Secretary Rajib Kumar Sarkar said candidates selected against vacant posts under the "Assistant Teacher Recruitment 2025" programme would join the district primary education office of their respective district on Oct 1. Appointment letters will be sent to the finally selected candidates in due course.
The notice also said the candidates would be posted after joining and later sent for training.
The recruitment process for government primary schools in 61 districts began in late 2025 during the tenure of the interim government. In the first phase, a circular was published on Nov 5 for the recruitment of 10,219 assistant teachers in schools under the Rajshahi, Rangpur, Sylhet, Khulna, Barishal and Mymensingh divisions. In the second phase, a circular was issued on Nov 12 for 4,166 assistant teacher posts in schools under the Dhaka and Chattogram divisions.
The written examination for a total of 14,385 posts in 61 districts was held on Jan 9. Although 1,080,095 candidates applied, 830,088 sat for the exam.
The Directorate of Primary Education said more than 200 candidates were expelled during the exam over allegations of using “unfair means” or "devices”. A section of the candidates demanded the scrapping of the exam, alleging question leaks and irregularities.
The results were published on Jan 21, and 69,265 candidates passed the written test. After conducting viva voce examinations, district primary education offices finally selected 14,384 candidates for appointment in February.
On Feb 12, the BNP formed the government after winning an overwhelming majority in the 13th parliamentary election.
Primary and Mass Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon alleged that the recruitment examination had been conducted in haste during the interim government and that 14,384 candidates had been selected hurriedly. As a result, the finally recommended candidates have not yet been posted as assistant teachers.
Most recently, on May 10, the Directorate of Primary Education instructed district primary education offices to verify the past activities of the 14,384 recommended candidates through “police investigation.”