Rejecting the decision to increase house rent by 5%, teachers and employees of non-government educational institutions under the Monthly Pay Order (MPO) scheme carried out an “empty plate” hunger march on Sunday.
On Sunday afternoon at around 3:15pm, the teachers and employees started this march from the Central Shaheed Minar towards the Education Building, holding empty plates. Thousands of teachers and employees participated.
However, when the march reached the High Court intersection via Doyel Chattar, police obstructed its progress. Over a hundred police members and six platoons of BGB were deployed at the High Court intersection. The teachers and employees staged a sit-in there for about an hour and then returned to Shaheed Minar at around 4:30pm.
During this time, the teachers and employees chanted slogans such as: “Either accept our demands, or fire bullets at our chests” and “No need for CR Abrar.”
Before starting the march from the Central Shaheed Minar, Member Secretary of the Nationalization Expectant Alliance of MPO-listed Teachers Delwar Hossain Azizi addressed the teachers and employees.
Delwar Hossain said, “The government has issued a gazette notification for a 5% house rent. Our stance is clear, we do not accept this. We believe this is a preliminary victory of our movement. Our movement will not stop until the final victory is achieved.”
Referring to the meeting with Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, this teacher leader said, “We have presented our demands. We believe the BNP agrees with these demands.”
Delwar Hossain said that Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told them that they would provide all-out cooperation in realising the demands of the teachers and employees.
MPO-listed teachers and employees have been protesting with a three-point demand, including 20% of basic salary (minimum Tk3,000) as house rent. They had previously rejected the proposal for a 5% house rent.
They are still continuing their movement. The teachers and employees have been observing their programmes for the eighth day today.
