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Published : 12 Oct 2025, 02:38 PM
Police have used sound grenades to disperse a protest by teachers and employees of Monthly Pay Order (MPO) listed schools to push for a hike in their housing allowance in front of the Jatiya Press Club.
Around 2pm on Sunday, the law enforcers charged the protesters. They then threw the sound grenades.
A witness at the scene said water cannons were brought to the area in front of the press club, but were not used to disperse the protesters. The road, which had been blocked since the morning due to the demonstration, reopened to traffic after the protesters left.
bdnews24.com Special Correspondent Sumon Mahmud, who is at the scene, said that police told the protesters to shift to the Central Shaheed Minar around 1:55pm. A group of the protesters did not agree to it and started chanting slogans at the police. At one point, the police began to chase them and fired sound grenades and tear gas. After that, the police took up positions on Segunbagicha Road, Topkhana Road, and the SAARC Foundation.
Protest leader Delwar Hossain Azizi, member secretary of the MPO-affiliated Education Nationalisation Alliance, told bdnews24.com at around 1:30pm: “We have left the road in front of the Press Club to cooperate with the administration. We will continue our sit-in programme at the Central Shaheed Minar. We request all teachers and employees to come and make a stand at the Shaheed Minar.
“The teachers and employees will also go on strike at all educational institutions from Tuesday. We will not leave the streets and return to class until our demands are met.”
Ahidul Islam, a teacher from Naogaon, told bdnews24.com at around 1:30 pm, “We came from the Press Club and took a stand at the Shaheed Minar.”
Teachers and employees started a “continuous sit-in” programme in front of the Jatiya Press Club on Sunday morning, demanding that teachers' housing allowance be increased to 20 percent of their basic salary, an increase in medical allowance from Tk 500 to Tk 1,500 and an increase in festival allowance from 50 percent to 75 percent of their basic salary.
They have also announced a work stoppage at all MPO-affiliated schools, colleges, madrasas and technical educational institutions from Tuesday to press for their demands.
On Sept 30, the government raised the housing allowance of MPO-affiliated teachers and employees by Tk 500. When the announcement was made public on Oct 5, the teachers rejected it and called for protests.
On Oct 6, the Ministry of Education sent a proposal to the Finance Department to increase the house rent allowance of MPO-affiliated teachers and employees to at least Tk 2,000 or Tk 3,000.
MPO-affiliated teachers and employees receive salaries according to the national pay scale. They get a medical allowance of Tk 500 per month alongside their basic salary. They also received a housing allowance of Tk 1,000, which has been increased by Tk 500.
MPO-affiliated teachers previously received two festival allowances a year at a rate of 25 percent per year. After the hike in May last year, they and MPO-affiliated employees are receiving festival allowances of 50 percent of their basic salary.
