The High Court (HC) today asked the government to give salary under the 10th grade to 45 headmasters of the government primary schools.

The court also ordered the government to notify their names in a gazette as second-class gazetted headmasters of the government primary schools since March 9, 2014.

The HC bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Khizir Ahmed Choudhury came up with the verdict following a writ petition filed by 45 headmasters including Reaz Parvez, president of Bangladesh Government Primary Headmasters Association, seeking necessary order to this effect.

According to the HC order, the headmasters will get Tk 16,000 basic salary per month instead of Tk 12,000, which is under the 11th grade, Reaz told The Daily Star.

Petitioners’ lawyer Advocate Salahuddin Dolon said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on March 9, 2014 directed the authorities concerned to upgrade status of head teachers of government primary schools to the second-class status and the ministry of primary and mass education issued a gazette notification to this effect the same day.

According to the gazette, head teachers of the government primary schools were supposed to get salary under the 10th grade.

But the ministry strategically fixed the salary scale of the headmasters of government primary schools at the 11th grade which is contradictory to the 2014 gazette notification.

The lawyer also said the other second-class officials were given the salary scale under 10th grade.