New rules shrink promotion scopes for ATEOs

The new recruitment rules formulated by the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education will shrink the scope for Assistant Thana Education Officers to get promotions in their job.

The ministry recently formulated the Directorate of Primary Education gazetted officers and non-gazetted employees Recruitment Rules-2021 and now it is being vetted at the law ministry, said the ministry officials.

The fresh rules will reduce promotion opportunities for ATEOs to 50 per cent from 80 per cent, they said.

According to the rules, the grades of Primary Assistant Teachers, Head Teachers, District Primary Education Officers, PTI Superintendents, and PTI Instructors increased but only ATEOs remained in their previous position.

In the new rules, 80 per cent of assistant teachers in government primary schools will be promoted to head teachers; there is a 100 per cent promotion from Thana/Upazila Education Officer (TEO) to Assistant District Primary Education Officer (ADPEO) and ADPEO to District Primary Education Officer (DPEO).

The news triggered frustration among the field level of education officers across the country. Protesting against the reduction of promotion scopes in the new rules, the Bangladesh Assistant Thana/Upazila Education Officers (ATEO) Association submitted applications to the ministry, law ministry and other offices concerned seeking a remedy.

The ATEO Association’s President MSA Rabiul Islam said, “We are welcoming the move of formulating the new rules but at the same time, we are humbly urging the ministry not to curtail our facilities.”

“If the rules are approved keeping the provision of only 50 per cent promotion and 50 per cent direct recruitment, we will not accept it and we the 2,601 ATEOs will go for movement,” he added.

Primary and Mass Education Secretary Farid Ahmed said, “We want the energy of youths and the experience of the elders. We need both. So, we have made provisions of appointing 50 per cent of ATEOs through promotion and 50 per cent through direct recruitment.”

He said, “The previous provision of 80 per cent promotion was made through a fake judgment. That’s why we have moved away from the previous provisions by analysing it at various levels.”

The ATEOs also said they have been serving in the same grade for 28 years due to a lack of upgradation of grades for the post.

The position of the ATEOs has not changed even though the salary and grades of their subordinates have upgraded several times in the period.

They said the post of ATEO was upgraded to grade 10 in 1994 following the recruitment rules made in 1985 when ATEOs’ subordinate head teacher was in grade 14 and Assistant Teacher in grade 18.

The post of head teacher was promoted in three steps to grade 11 in 2014 while the post of assistant primary teacher to grade 13 in 2020 in four steps.

Apart from this, between 1994 and 2022, the post of District Primary Education Officer has been upgraded from grade IX to grade VI, the post of PTI Superintendent from grade IX to grade VI and the post of PTI Instructor from 3rd class to grade IX.

However, the ATEOs who are playing important role in the field level to improve the quality of education, are still serving under the same grade 10 since 1994 without promotion, they said

ATEO Association’s General Secretary Salahuddin Ahmed said the opportunity of promotion from grade 10 post to grade IX post has been increased in many ministries by amending the recruitment rules to evaluate the experience in recent times.

However, despite joining the uniform recruitment process and educational qualification, the ATEO does not get a single promotion opportunity in the entire service period, he added

ATEO Association’s President MSA Rabiul Islam said initiatives were taken at various times to improve the rank or grade of the ATEOs. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Public Administration recommended in its 19th meeting on July 16, 2006, for promotion of the post from Class II to Class I.

He also said, “In an inter-ministerial meeting at the Ministry of Public Administration on September 6, 2006, requested Ministry of Public Administration to take further measure to promote the post of AUEO/ATEO from Class II to Class I. but there is no progress till now.”