Assistant teachers at government primary schools have suspended their ongoing nationwide strike over three demands, including salary upgrades to grade 11.

Primary Assistant Teachers Organization Oikya Parishad, a platform of primary assistant teachers, made the announcement after a meeting with Primary and Mass Education Adviser Prof Dr Bidhan Ranjan Roy Podder on Thursday, May 29.

"We are announcing our work abstention for now due to specific and positive steps by the government about meeting the demands," Mohammad Shamsuddin Masud, convener of the platform, told Jago News.

"We will monitor the government till June 26. If there is no progress in inplementing the demands, we will announce programmes again," he said.

Shamsuddin Masud also said they will return to the classes from Sunday, June 1.

The primary assistant teachers started observing full-day work stoppage from May 26 to press home their three-point demand.

Earlier, they observed a one-hour work abstention from May 5 to 15 and half-day work stoppage from May 21 to 25 over the same demands.

The demands as follows:

1. Upgrading wages to Grade 11 of the pay scale;

2. Resolving the complications around obtaining higher pay grades after the completion of 10 and 16 years in job;

3. Faster promotions, including 100 per cent promotion of assistant teachers to the head teacher posts.