Teachers of non-government MPO-listed educational institutions have announced a “Long March to Jamuna” for Thursday noon, if a gazette notification meeting their demands, including an increase in house rent allowance, is not issued by Wednesday night.
The announcement came Wednesday evening from the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka, where teachers have been staging a sit-in for the past four days. Delwar Hossain Azizi, member secretary of the Alliance for Nationalisation of MPO Institutions, made the declaration.
“We are observing a countrywide work abstention at MPO-listed non-government schools, colleges, and madrasas to press for three demands, including a 20% house rent allowance based on the basic salary, an increase in medical allowance to Tk 1,500, and a 75% festival bonus for employees,” said Azizi.
“If the government accepts these demands, we are ready to withdraw our programme. However, if a gazette notification is not issued by tonight, we will hold a Long March to Jamuna at 12pm tomorrow (Thursday) to press home demands.”
Azizi also instructed all MPO-listed institutions nationwide to suspend classes and exams indefinitely until the demands are met. He urged teachers to continue their movement peacefully until the gazette is issued.
Thousands of teachers have been demonstrating at the Central Shaheed Minar since Sunday night. On Wednesday afternoon, they blocked Shahbagh intersection as part of their ongoing protests, which caused severe traffic congestion in the capital for over an hour and a half.
They later returned to Shaheed Minar to continue their sit-in, now entering its fourth consecutive night.
Abul Bashar Hawlader, president of the Bangladesh Teachers’ Union, said, “More than 20 crore students study at over 30,000 MPO-listed schools, colleges, and madrasas across the country. Until our demands are fulfilled, these institutions will remain under work abstention.”
Meanwhile, sources at the Ministry of Education confirmed that a proposal to raise the house rent allowance by 10% has already been sent to the Ministry of Finance, where officials have held meetings on the matter.
Finance ministry sources said they are still reviewing the financial implications and a final decision will be announced once calculations are complete.
