The participants in the first phase, non-government primary school teachers, received some fulfilment of their demands for which the government provided funds in the recently passed budget.

However, the later groups of strikers from the non-government secondary and higher secondary schools and colleges are now faced with a government stand that since the budget has already been passed for next year, it cannot find another Tk 750 crore to meet their main demand for 100 percent basic salary support from government sources.

While the impasse continues with closure of schools, and teachers and employees on the street, the students, their parents and the nation watch a sad spectacle of the most important nation-building sector passing through chaos. It is tragic that such restlessness and dislocations are occurring at a time when gradual improvement in high school education is taking place as reflected in SSC results and the students in general are moving out from politics to pay more attention to their studies. The timing and magnitude of such disruptions may appear to condemn us as a nation destined to be doomed in perpetual instability.

But a closer analysis would show that our problems are basically system-related, reflecting our 'Andolan' dominated policies of resolving disputes and problems. The demand and response system in our governance is dominated by our inaction till the grievances and problems are accumulated and the sufferers join the streets and make the operation of their sector no longer viable. Our policy makers wait till Andolans become politically costly for them, while the parties suffer and the nation loses. To avoid such situations, many nations have developed pragmatic ways of dealing with grievances in essential sectors like education, health, police and other vital public services allowing several processes of negotiation, mediation, and finally arbitration so that the strike will not be necessary or will be forbidden.

We not only have failed to develop any such system of resolving legitimate grievances of our essential service men and women including school teachers and staff but also continue to establish unnecessary layers of schools, creating disparity and discrepancies in basic salary and benefits of teachers and staff. Our political parties and their leaders make promises to get political support but do not keep their promises when they go to power.

But the long term solution to these kinds of grievances in various sectors lies in radically changing our pro -Andolan decision making process to pro-dialogue and compromise solutions.