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The teaching profession is not attracting the country’s brilliant students to the noble profession for the poor salary, benefits and declining social status of teachers in Bangladesh.
The existing salary of the Bangladeshi teachers is not sufficient to bear the family expenses amid the high prices of everything in markets as they are facing financial hardship.
Even, many teachers have been forced to leave their job during the Covid-19 pandemic and a few teachers returned after normalcy returned.
Amid such a situation, like other countries in the world, Bangladesh will celebrate World Teachers’ Day 2022 today with the theme of “The Transformation of Education Begins With Teachers.”
At present, an applicant can apply for a steno typist cum computer operator post with Higher Secondary School Certificate and will get a salary as per 13th grade.
A primary school teacher needs three years degree or honours certificate for applying assistant teacher post under the 13th grade. And he gets a gross payment of Tk 19, 000 a month.
According to Salary Explorer website, a primary school teacher gets Tk 19, 000 per month in Bangladesh whereas a primary school teacher gets a salary of Tk 29,512 in India, Tk 47,894 in Nepal, and Tk 26,730 in Pakistan.
With the same qualifications as the primary teachers, an assistant teacher at a non-government high school gets Tk 12,500 per month. Even, 10 per cent of the total salary is being deducted for the retirement benefit.
Even, the salary of the higher secondary teachers is also lowest in Bangladesh as a teacher gets up to
Tk 12,750 in Bangladesh, Tk 31,635 in Pakistan, Tk 54,439 in Nepal and Tk 35,921 in India.
The salaries of university teachers are also the lowest in Bangladesh compared to other South Asian countries.
According to Salary Explorer, In Bangladesh, the basic salary of a university lecturer is Tk 22,000, assistant professor Tk 35,500, associate professor Tk 50,000 and professor Tk 64, 600. The basic salary of a professor is Tk 70,680 in India and Tk 88,550 in Nepal.
Bangladesh Teachers Association’s President Nazrul Islam Roni told The Business Post that they have been demanding to increase in the salaries of teachers. But the authorities did not take any imitative in this regard.
M Shamsuddin Masud, member secretary of Bangladesh Primary School Teachers’ Association (Combined), said teachers of primary schools across the country waged a movement to press home their seven-point demand, including upgrading the salary of headmasters to the 10th grade and that of assistant teachers to the 11th grade. But unfortunately, they are yet to get it yet.
According to the sources at the primary and mass education ministry, the government has appointed altogether 898 head teachers through the 34th Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examinations and 350 through the 36th BCS. They all are non-cadre, their status being class II government employees.
Significantly, at least 60 per cent of them have left their jobs and joined other government offices. Some of them have even taken up posts of the same status.
Sheikh Abdullah Al Mamun joined the industries ministry as a class-two employee quitting his job as headmaster. He said, “I observed that class-two employees in other government sectors enjoyed more facilities and dignity than teachers in primary schools. That was why I left the primary school job.”
As a result, Bangladesh lags behind in skill-based education in the world.
Bangladesh is only ahead of three African countries – Kenya, Nigeria
and the Democratic Republic of
Congo – in providing its youth with skill-based education, according to the Worldwide Educating for the Future Index 2019.
In the index of 50 emerging nations published recently by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Bangladesh ranks 47th, falling from its previous position of 45th, with an overall score of 36.6 out of 100.
There are 1,33,901 government and non-government primary schools across the country and the number of teachers there is 6,23,964. Of the schools, 65,000 are government schools staffed with 3,70,129 teachers.
30 per cent kindergarten teachers switched to other sectors
According to the Bangladesh Kindergarten Association and Bangladesh Kindergarten School and College Oikya Parishad, about 40 per cent of teachers have left the profession during the Coivd-19 pandemic period. Of them, only 10 per cent came back after normalcy was restored.
Mizanur Rahman Sarker, secretary general of the Bangladesh Kindergarten Association, told The Business Post that the private school teachers have left their profession as they were going through misery during the pandemic.
“Dignity is the asset of a teacher. But many teachers are compelled to do the job of vendor, day labourer and even tea seller. This is very unfortunate for the teachers. We are now suffering from a teacher crisis as many teachers did not come back after the pandemic. They changed the professions,” he said.
Ikbal Bahar Chowdhury, president of the Bangladesh Kindergarten School and College Oikya Parishad, told The Business Post at least 30 per cent of teachers are absent at schools. I learnt that they are now in a good position in the professions they switched to.
The country has around 55,000 private educational institutions, including nursery schools, which employ about eight lakh teachers.
Primary teachers’ long-term struggle for salaries
Primary teachers have historically been struggling for dignity in their profession since the emergence of Bangladesh. The salary of primary teachers was Tk 135 per month till 1973.
The government of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman nationalised primary education in 1973 when the salary was increased to Tk 230. Till 1977, it remained the same.
After 1985, it increased to Tk 430. Headmasters were entitled to get Tk 750 and assistant teachers got Tk 650 till 1991. In 2005, the head teachers got the 13th grade and assistant teachers the 15th grade.
However, although in 2016 head teachers became entitled to the 12th grade, the grade for assistant teachers did not change.
Principal Shahjahan Alam Shaju, general secretary of Swadhinata Shikkhak Parishad said the government must increase teachers’ salaries and dignity. Otherwise, quality education will be hampered.
