Primary head teachers to get salary in 10th grade: Appellate Division

Primary head teachers to get salary in 10th grade: Appellate Division

National Desk :    |    ০২:৪৮ পিএম, ২০২৫-০৩-১৩

News Desk: The Appellate Division has ruled that government primary school head teachers will get the status and salary of a second-class gazetted officer in the 10th grade.

A four-judge appellate bench led by Justice Syed Refat Ahmed gave the order on Thursday after settling a review petition by the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education.

Lawyer Salauddin Dolan heard the case on behalf of the teachers.

Later, Dolan told reporters, “While all other second-class employees get salary in the 10th grade, primary head teachers do not. Even though their post is second-class, they get salary in the 11th (those who are trained) and 12th (non-trained) grades. In non-cadre second-class posts, second-class officials in other ministries or departments get salary in the 10th scale of the national pay structure.

“Their application was three- second-class status, 10th grade and time scale and selection grade. However, the ministry said that they have no objection if the time scale demand is dropped. Because the time scale provision has not been in place since 2015. They will get it from the time it is introduced again. Accordingly, we have dropped it and applied today. From now on, they will get the status of second class and salary in grade 10.”

On March 9, 2014, the then government announced the promotion of government primary school head teachers to grade 2.

On the same day, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education issued a notification, but later the ministry fixed the salary at grade 11 for trained head teachers and grade 12 for untrained head teachers. Various organizations of head teachers, including the Bangladesh Government Primary School Head Teachers Association, had been agitating over this.

Later, on March 4 last year, 45 aggrieved teachers, including the president of the Bangladesh Government Primary School Head Teachers Association, filed a writ petition in the High Court challenging the decision to fix grades 11 and 12.

On February 26, 2019, the High Court bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Khizir Ahmed Chowdhury ordered that the salary of government primary school head teachers be given the 10th grade along with the gazetted rank. In that judgment, the salary scale of both trained and untrained head teachers should be implemented with the 10th grade rank from March 9, 2014.

After the final hearing of the government's appeal in this regard, the full bench of the Appellate Division headed by the then Chief Justice dismissed the appeal and delivered the verdict on January 6, 2022.

The head teachers filed a contempt of court case after the High Court Division and the Appellate Division did not implement the verdict for three long months.

On June 27 of the same year, a double bench of the High Court gave the defendants one month to show cause why disciplinary action should not be taken for not implementing the verdict. Later, the full bench of the Appellate Division disposed of the civil review petition after the final hearing.