Assistant teachers of government primary schools, whose appointments were cancelled by a court order on February 6, continued their protest at Shahbagh in the capital on the first day of Ramadan on Sunday demanding their appointments.
The Appellate Division is expected to hold a hearing today over a Directorate of Primary Education鈥檚 petition that challenged a High Court verdict regarding their appointment.
The High Court in a verdict declared illegal the November 20, 2024 appointment of 6,531 assistant teachers in government primary schools in Dhaka and Chattogram based on job quotas as per the 2019 recruitment rules. The court directed the directorate to publish fresh results of primary teachers maintaining 7 per cent quota in jobs only following the Appellate Division鈥檚 earlier verdict.
The three-judge bench chaired by Justice Md Ashraful Islam rescheduled the hearing as attorney general Md Asaduzzaman sought adjournment for a day.聽聽
鈥榃e have been on the streets for 25 days in a row. We expected that we would return to houses today ensuring our appointments,鈥� said a protester, Mohib Bullah.
鈥榃e are respectful of the court and will wait for its decision,鈥� Mohib said, adding that protesters will not leave the street until their demand is met.
Following Saturday鈥檚 symbolic hanging programme and a day-long sit-in wearing burial shrouds with their hands tied with chains in front of the Bangladesh National Museum at Shahbagh, they stayed at the venue the whole night.
On February 6, the High Court declared illegal and scrapped the November 20, 2024 appointment of 6,531 assistant teachers in government primary schools in Dhaka and Chattogram based on job quotas as per the 2019 recruitment rules.
The Directorate of Primary Education on February 13 appealed against the verdict and the Appellate Division on February 18 posted a full-court hearing on March 2 that had been rescheduled for March 3.
Earlier on February 10, 13 and 16, police used batons, water cannons, sound grenades and fired tear gas shells to disperse the protesters from Shahbagh and near the Bangladesh Secretariat in the capital, leaving some of them injured.聽聽
The recommended teachers have been staging demonstrations since February 6.