The High Court (HC) has cancelled the process of appointing 6, 531 candidates as assistant teachers of government primary schools in Dhaka and Chattogram divisions. An HC bench consisting of Justice Fatema Najib and Justice Shikdar Mahmudur Raji passed the order after hearing a petition on Thursday. The court also directed the authorities to start a fresh recruitment process based on merit. On June 14 in 2023, the government issued a circular for recruiting assistant teacher for the primary schools in both divisions. On October 31 last year, the government published the final results of the recruitment test declaring 6, 531 candidates as successful. Later, 30 candidates submitted a petition with the HC challenging the legality of the recruitment following the abolition of job quota system. Primary school teachers protest at Shaheed Minar, demand implementation of 10th grade salary scale After the primary hearing on November 19, the court stayed the recruitment process for six months. Moreover, the court issued a rule asking as to why the recruitment process should not be declared illegal. Challenging the order, the Directorate of Primary Education submitted a leave-to-appeal with the Appellate Division. Online transfer of primary school teachers begins Jan 20 The court upheld the HC order and ordered to settle the petition within January 25.

The first phase of examination for the recruitment of 45,000 assistant teachers in government primary schools will begin on Friday. In the first phase, the test will be held in 22 districts, said State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Zakir Hossain at a press conference at the ministry. The second phase exam will be held on May 20 in 30 districts and the third phase one in 31 districts on June 3.    Also read:Decision on PEC exams to be taken 3 months before schedule: State Minister The exam will be held in the respective districts of the applicants from 11am to 12 pm, said the state minister. The number of candidates in this year's recruitment test for assistant teachers is 13,09,461. The total number of examination centers in three phases is 1,811 and written examination has been arranged in 61 districts. “This time, we have decided to prepare the question paper centrally,” said Zakir Hossain.            All the work including seating arrangement, sending and printing of question papers, evaluation of answer sheets, and preparation of results will be done automatically through software. “So, there is no scope for any kind of illegal intervention,” he said. Also read: Govt primary schools: Exam begins Apr 22 to recruit 45,000 assistant teachers                                                                                                            “If anyone offers to give a job in exchange of money, I request all to hand them over to the nearest police station or inform the police station or the intelligence agency.” “We want to complete the recruitment process of qualified candidates through publishing written test results and taking oral test as soon as possible,” he added. At present, there are 65,566 govt primary schools in the country with 4,28,701 vacant  teachers’ post.