MPO teachers rally at Shaheed Minar to press for swift action on allowance demands

It is the ninth day of protests by teachers and employees from MPO-listed educational institutions calling for hikes in their allowances

Teachers and employees at educational institutions under the government's monthly pay order (MPO) scheme have begun a ninth day of protests to demand increases on a number of their allowances, particularly their housing allowance.

The protesters took up positions at Dhaka’s Central Shaheed Minar on Monday morning and started a rally. Nearly 100 teachers are conducting a hunger strike to press home their demands.

Protest leaders hope that high-level government officials will accept their demands and bring about a quick “resolution” to the issue.

Since Oct 12 the protesters have called for increasing the house rent allowance to 20 percent of their basic salary, an increase in medical allowance from Tk 500 to Tk 1,500, and a raise in festival allowances for MPO-listed staff from 50 percent to 75 percent of basic salary.

Md Habibur Raju, joint convener for the Alliance for Nationalisation of MPO-Listed Educational Institutions, said on Monday morning: “We are giving the government two days to accept our demands. We hope the issue will be resolved quickly at the higher levels of government.”

“Teachers have lost their trust in the education advisor. We want the finance advisor or someone at a higher level to accept our demands."

Stating that about 100 teachers are on hunger strike, the protest leader said: "We have rejected the 5 percent or minimum Tk 2,000 house rent allowance increase. We want 20 percent. The teachers and employees will not leave Shaheed Minar until their demands are met, and classes will not start."

He also highlighted that a delegation led by BNP Joint Secretary General Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anne will come to the demonstration.

Meanwhile, leaders of various political parties, including the National Citizen Party (NCP) and Jamaat-e-Islami, and cultural group Inquilab Mancha have already expressed solidarity with the demands of the MPO-affiliated teachers and employees. The Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU), Jahangirnagar University Central Students' Union (JUCSU), students of Dhaka University, Jagannath University, and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), as well as various teachers’ organisations have also expressed support for the demands of the teachers and employees.

At 4:45pm on Sunday, the protesters attempted to reach the Shiksha Bhaban with a “hunger march”, carrying plates and bowls in their hands. Law enforcers stopped them at the High Court's Mazar Gate. At 5:45pm, they returned to the Shaheed Minar to continue their sit-in demonstration.

In the face of the protest movement, the government increased the housing allowance of teachers and employees of MPO-listed educational institutions to 5 percent of the basic salary, or a minimum of Tk 2,000, on Sunday. However, the teachers and employees have refused to budge from their demand of a 20 percent housing allowance.

Meanwhile, teachers and employees have been continuing a work stoppage at all private educational institutions since Oct 13 to protest a “police attack” on teachers on the first day of the movement on Oct 12. They have announced the programme will continue until their demands are met.

Since Oct 12, teachers and employees have been holding sit-ins at the National Press Club and Central Shaheed Minar, along with long marches toward the Secretariat and blockades at Shahbagh intersection as part of their protest programme.

On Saturday, the seventh day of the protest, they held a “black flag procession” from the Central Shaheed Minar and demonstrated near the Kadam Fountain outside the High Court.

A section of the protesters has been continuing a "hunger strike unto death" at the Shaheed Minar.

MPO-listed teachers and staff receive salaries under the national pay scale. Along with their basic salary, they currently receive Tk 500 per month as a medical allowance. Previously, they received Tk 1,000 as a house rent allowance, which was increased and has now been set at 5 percent of the basic salary or a minimum of Tk 2,000.

Earlier, MPO-listed teachers received two annual festival allowances each at 25 percent of basic salary. Following an increase in May, they now receive festival allowances amounting to 50 percent of their basic pay.