The government has upgraded the pay scale of all head teachers in government primary schools across the country to the 10th grade.
The decision was announced in a notification issued by the Ministry of Finance on Monday, July 28.
According to the circular, approval has been granted to upgrade the pay scale of 65,502 head teachers from the existing 11th grade (for trained teachers) and 12th grade (for untrained teachers) to the 10th grade.
In a separate statement, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education said that teachers are the key architects of nation-building, and improving their financial benefits is essential for enhancing the quality of education.
The decision follows a Supreme Court order in Civil Review Petition No. 124/2022, under which 45 head teachers were upgraded from the 11th to the 10th grade pay scale.
Based on that ruling, the government decided it was logical to extend the benefit to all government primary school head teachers nationwide.
This landmark decision fulfills a long-standing demand of primary school head teachers. Previously, on March 9, 2014, then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced the upgradation of head teachers to the second-class category.
However, the Ministry later set different scales—11th grade for trained head teachers and 12th for untrained ones.
Terming this discriminatory, 45 head teachers, including former association president Riaz Parvez, filed a writ petition with the High Court, which ultimately led to today’s reform.
