It is worrying to note that hundreds of teachers of non-government primary schools have chosen to boycott classes and taken to the streets in the capital to meet their demand for nationalisation. According to a report of this newspaper yesterday, instead of taking classes at the beginning of the year, these teachers have opted for the full-throttled movement. Around 17,000 primary teachers from 4,159 non-government primary schools across the country were participating in the movement, saying that they would not return to their classes and homes until their demands were met.

They claim that it is a matter of their survival. They admit that the ongoing movement is severely hampering classes. However, they claim that they have resorted to the last option as the government has not responded to their demand. The agitated teachers threatened to go for hunger strike if the government did not respond to their demand. Earlier, several other platforms of teachers and employees orchestrated movements in the capital with the demand for monthly pay order (MPO) facility, nationalisation, removal of discrimination of salary between primary school headmaster and assistant teachers.

Education is the backbone of a nation and the future of a nation greatly depends on the performances of students. Only competent teachers can help making meritorious students who are supposed to shine in various disciplines of life and shoulder the responsibility of the country. Today’s students are the future doctors, engineers, administrators, lawyers, teachers and entrepreneurs of the country. But if their education is based on weak and questionable foundation, how will they shine? How much will they learn from the teachers who themselves are suffering from financial strains? It is difficult for a teacher to impart quality education to students if he/she is steeped in impoverishment.

In these days of high prices of essentials it is difficult for a person to keep body and soul together with the family members in the absence of adequate income. What the non-government primary school teachers are getting is mere pittance. This is a humanitarian issue. In the circumstances, the government should consider the demand of the non-government primary school teachers. Since the government has already accepted the demands of other groups or forums of teachers, their demand also deserves due consideration. Besides, the government should arrange for training, in-service or professional development training for teachers of primary schools so that they can impart quality education to students.