Candidates recommended for appointment as assistant teachers in government primary schools on Sunday launched an indefinite sit-in at Shahbagh in the capital, demanding that the government complete their appointments within August.
The protest began at around 11:00am in front of the National Museum, under tight police security.
The demonstrators are among the 14,384 candidates recommended for appointment following the government primary school assistant teacher recruitment examination held on 9 January this year. Although the recruitment process has been completed, they said they have yet to receive their final appointment letters.
The candidates had earlier urged the government to issue the appointment notification by 29 July, but no such order was issued.
The latest protest comes despite the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education revising the joining schedule for the newly recruited teachers. The ministry initially announced that the candidates would join their respective workplaces on 29 October, but issued a fresh notification on Sunday bringing the joining date forward to 1 October, with postings scheduled for 2 October.
The protesters said they had completed all required formalities and were only awaiting appointment letters, leaving thousands of successful candidates in prolonged uncertainty.
They also argued that bringing forward the joining date by a few weeks did not address their core demand for the immediate completion of the appointment process.
The recommended candidates previously staged a similar demonstration at the same venue on 26 April. At the time, State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Bobby Hajjaj assured them that the issue would be resolved.
With no appointment notification issued by their self-imposed 29 July deadline, the candidates resumed their protest on Sunday, vowing to continue the sit-in until the government completes their appointments within August.
