At least 40 assistant primary teachers fell sick as they have been continuing an indefinite hunger strike for the third consecutive day today, reports Prothom Alo.

They went on the hunger strike on Saturday vowing not to return to their workplaces until their demand for upgrading their salary scale is met.

Several thousand assistant teachers of the state-run primary schools began the strike under the banner of “Bangladesh Primary Assistant Teachers' Grand Alliance” with a one-point demand -- fixing the trained assistant teachers' grade next to the trained head teachers' grade.

Some of them were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) while the rest took treatment from different private hospitals, Mohammad Samsuddin, a leader of the alliance, told the daily.

A teacher is given saline after he fell sick for the hunger strike since Saturday, December 23, 2017. Photo: Prabir Das

“We will continue the strike until our demand is met,” he said.

Some 27 teachers already fell ill till yesterday and were admitted to the DMCH.

There is a three-tier gap between the wage grades of assistant teachers and head teachers although both play almost an equal role in educating children, Shahinur Al-Amin, one of the alliance leaders, told The Daily Star yesterday.

The trained assistant teachers get salary under 14th grade of the wage board and the non-trained under 15th grade whereas the trained headmasters get salary under the 11th grade.