Exodus beckons as poor salaries haunt teachers

Infographic: TBS

Primary school teachers around the country are struggling to survive on meagre salaries, with many opting to leave the profession altogether. 

An assistant teacher under Grade-13 of the government wage board gets only Tk17,500 per month, while a head teacher makes Tk19,000.

Although for both posts one needs to have completed a three-year degree or have an honours certificate, other professions with only a high school certificate pay equally or much more in starting positions.  

For assistant teachers in non-government high schools - where only 600 are government-run - an assistant teacher gets Tk12,500 per month, of which 10% is deducted as retirement benefit.

Although the government had raised the salary ceiling in 2020, the increments were only around Tk1,000. 

Shahidul Islam, an assistant teacher of a Monthly Pay Order (MPO) listed high school, told The Business Standard that the salary of high school teachers was lower than even those of peons. 

"We are still third class employees in the country. Our social status is also not up to the mark. We are not solvent. How will we provide quality education when we are going hungry? The government should give us first class status," he said. 

Bangladesh Teachers Association President Nazrul Islam Roni told TBS that the organization has been demanding salary upgrades, but the education ministry is yet to take any initiatives in this regard.

"Teachers build future generations. How can we expect quality education without showing teachers proper dignity?" he asked.

Mohammad Shamsuddin Masud, president of the Bangladesh Primary School Teachers' Association, said teachers of primary schools across the country have been engaged in a movement to press home their seven-point demand, including an upgrading of salaries. 

But the demands are yet to see the light of day and they won't also this year at least.

Education Minister Dipu Moni told TBS there were no plans to increase salaries at the moment. But over 300 institutions were nationalised and this process would continue, she added. 

Md Aminul Islam Khan, senior secretary of the Primary and Mass Education Ministry, told TBS that the ministry had upgraded the teacher salary grade from 14 to 13 in 2020 and there would be no further increases this year. 

The salary increase two years ago has hardly made a dent when it comes to even regional comparisons. 

Salaries of teachers in South Asian countries are much higher than in Bangladesh. For instance, a primary school teacher in India gets a starting salary of around Tk36,000.

Professor Emeritus of Brac University Dr Manzoor Ahmed said the government must increase teachers' salaries, otherwise the quality of education will be hampered. 

Primary teachers have historically struggled for living wages since the emergence of Bangladesh. The salary of primary teachers was Tk135 per month till 1973, after which nationalisation saw a salary hike to Tk230.

Until 1977, it remained the same before being increased to Tk430 in 1985. 

In 2005, 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. 

Classrooms with no teachers

Teachers say their financial condition has worsened amid the recession, with many failing to bear even basic family expenses. 

The situation has dissuaded people from taking up the profession, with many leaving it instead.

According to the Bangladesh Kindergarten Association and Bangladesh Kindergarten School and College Oikya Parishad, about 40% teachers left the profession during the Coivd-19 pandemic period, of whom only 10% returned. 

Ikbal Bahar Chowdhury, president of the Bangladesh Kindergarten School and College Oikya Parishad, said of the teachers who switched professions, many were now in good positions. 

Sources in the primary and mass education ministry said the government appointed 898 head teachers through the 34th Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examinations and 350 through the 36th BCS. They were all non-cadre, class-two government employees.

Significantly, at least 60% percent of them have left their jobs and taken up other government jobs. Some have even taken up posts of the same status, according to the sources.

Of them, Sheikh Abdullah Al Mamun is one. He joined the industries ministry as a class-two employee. 

Mamun said, "I observed that class-two employees in other government sectors enjoyed more facilities and dignity than teachers in primary schools. That is why I left the job at a primary school." 

As talented teachers begin to leave, the brain drain has left the education sector in a lurch.

Bangladesh now lags behind the world in skills-based education, coming ahead only of Kenya, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to Worldwide Educating for the Future Index 2019.

The country has around 55,000 private educational institutions, including nursery schools, which employ about eight lakh teachers.

There are a total of 1,33,901 government and non-government primary schools across the country, employing 6,23,964 teachers. 

Of the schools, 65,000 are government schools staffed with 3,70,129 teachers.

Like other countries around the world, Bangladesh will celebrate World Teachers' Day 2022 with the theme of "The Transformation of Education Begins With Teachers."

No respite even after retirement

As many as 53,000 retired teachers and employees are yet to get their benefits.

A total of 31,000 applications are pending with the Non-Government Employee Retirement Benefits Board (NGERBB). The retirement board needs at least Tk3,000 crore to pay all the applicants.

Maruf Hossain, an official at the retirement benefit board, said it should take around three months to process a retirement benefit check. "Unfortunately, now it takes about three years," he said. 

Sources at the Non-government Teachers and Employees Welfare Trust (NGTEWT) said as many as 22,000 applications are pending regarding getting the benefit. The board needs at least Tk2,000 crore to clear these. 

Md Shahjahan Alam Saju, member secretary of the welfare board, told TBS that the board had applied to the government for a special fund. "We have been trying to resolve the crisis. I think we will tide over the crisis soon," he said.