Dead-end jobs, meagre pay for makers of nation-builders

Despite their pivotal role in shaping future generations, government primary schoolteachers remain among the lowest-paid staffers, a disparity that many educators say is reflected in the level of respect they receive.

Teachers are often placed on similar pay grades (grade 13) as those of drivers, clerks, and stenographers, even though teachers require higher educational qualifications for entry into service. This indicates a persistent undervaluation of their profession, teachers said on the eve of World Teachers’ Day today.

For example, the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission issued a recruitment circular in 2025, putting technician-1 in grade 13, which requires HSC or SSC qualifications in science with at least six months’ experience.

Primary assistant teachers, by contrast, must have a bachelor’s degree. The requirement has been in place for both men and women since 2019.

The government has admitted the need to reconsider the grade and is reviewing proposals for a new career structure, but no decision has been made.

This lower entry grade results in pay which many teachers struggle to make ends meet.

“If capable and talented people are wanted in the teaching profession, the comparison should not be with the lowest level of civil service.”

Manzoor Ahmed, professor emeritus at BRAC University

The monthly vehicle allowance for a deputy secretary provides for a stark comparison. The Tk 50,000 allowance is almost double a primary teacher’s gross starting salary.

Under the new pay scale, government employees in grades 10 to 20 will receive a 50 percent increase in their basic salaries in the first phase. As a result, the basic salary of a primary teacher will rise to Tk 17,500 from Tk 11,000. Teachers said that with house rent, medical allowance, and other benefits, their monthly gross salary would go up to only Tk 25,230.

Once the pay structure is fully implemented in July 2027, a teacher’s basic salary will be Tk 24,000 under grade 13.

Academics said the low pay and status often keep meritorious students away from the teaching profession.

“If capable and talented people are wanted in the teaching profession, the comparison should not be with the lowest level of civil service,” Manzoor Ahmed, professor emeritus at BRAC University, told The Daily Star.

Teachers and educationists said the issue extends beyond pay disparity, encompassing limited promotion opportunities, the absence of a clear career structure, and the relatively low status of primary teachers despite higher entry qualifications.

Shahinur Al Amin joined a primary school as an assistant teacher on January 14, 1999. More than 27 years later, he is still at the same post.

“For many professionals like us, having no promotion is deeply painful. But we must keep that bottled up and continue teaching,” he said, adding that a defined career path could have given him two or three promotions.

Shahinur said supporting his wife, three children, and his mother in Dhaka costs around Tk 80,000 a month, forcing him to look for other sources of income.

“Many have their own businesses or tutor students. I am into music and perform at programmes. I sing on radio and television. This is how we have to manage our families.”

With their various demands, the teachers took to the streets. In May 2025, assistant teachers staged work abstentions, demanding grade 11 upon entry, and higher-grade benefits after 10 and 16 years of service.

By November, the demand had moved to grade 10. Police used truncheons, sound grenades, and water cannons as teachers marched towards Shahbagh, leaving over 100 injured.

The movement was suspended after talks with the Finance Division but resumed later. The division said the pay proposal had been sent to the National Pay Commission.

Talking to this newspaper, Khayrun Nahar Lipi, general secretary of the Bangladesh Primary Teachers’ Association and a leader of that movement, said the grade 10 demand was also about status and career prospects.

“It is not only a demand for higher pay; it is also about teachers’ professional status, the importance of their responsibilities and a clear career structure.”

Interim government’s consultation committee on primary and non-formal education proposed abolishing the post of assistant teacher and recruiting new teachers under grade 12. They would be confirmed after two years and promoted to senior teachers in grade 11 after another two years. Headteachers would be placed in grade 10.

None of these has materialised.

Prof Manzoor, who led the consultation committee, said, “A rethinking of teachers’ professional standard, preparation, incentives, status and performance assessment across goverment, and private institutions is urgently needed, rather than empty promises on Teachers’ Day.”

The teachers’ demands also reflect how the position of primary teachers in the government pay structure has changed.

Primary-teacher salary records provided in the pay scale reviewed by The Daily Star place a trained assistant teacher in grade VIII in 1973, with a starting basic salary of Tk 220. Now they have inched closer to the bottom instead of climbing higher.

Prof Manzoor said Bangladeshi primary teachers get lower salaries compared to other South Asian countries.

Talking to this correspondent, Bobby Hajjaj, the state minister for primary and mass education, said grade 13 needed reconsideration as assistant teachers’ qualifications and responsibilities have increased.

He said the ministry was considering grade 12 for the teachers. They will be promoted to 11th grade as senior teachers.

“But the administrative structure, the number of posts and financial implications would have to be examined first.”

The ministry is also working on a career path based on qualifications, experience, training, and performance, Bobby said.