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Published : 14 Oct 2025, 03:59 PM
The MPO-affiliated teachers and employees have given the government some more time to accept three of their key demands, including raising their housing allowance to 20 percent of their salary.
The announcement came on Tuesday as the protesters postponed their planned “March to the Secretariat” from Shaheed Minar.
According to the protesting teachers, the march was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon but has been put on hold for now.
“If the government does not accept the demands, the ‘March to Secretariat’ programme will be held in the afternoon,” said Principal Delwar Hossain Azizi, member secretary of the MPO-affiliated Education Nationalisation Alliance.
“We are not withdrawing the ‘March to Secretariat’ programme, but it is not happening now,” Azizi said.
“The administration and Hasnat Abdullah, the NCP’s chief organiser for the southern region, have urged us not to hold the long march programme.”
He added that the education ministry could issue the notification “whenever they want”.
“However, if they brief the media and announce that they have accepted our three demands, then we will not go to the Secretariat,” he said.
Azizi emphasised that there is no room for negotiation on their three demands – hiking housing allowance to 20 percent of the basic salary, increasing medical allowance from Tk 500 to Tk 1,500, and a raise in the festival allowance for MPO-listed employees from 50 percent to 75 percent of the basic salary.
As part of their “uninterrupted sit-in” programme under the banner of the MPO-listed Education Nationalisation Alliance, the teachers and employees have been protesting at the Central Shaheed Minar for a third consecutive day on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, like-minded teachers and employees across the country have gone on strike in their respective institutions in solidarity with the protest.
On Sunday morning, teachers and employees began a continuous sit-in programme in front of the National Press Club to push for these demands.
At 1:30pm that day, police requested that they move from the Press Club area, after which a section of the protesters decided to continue their sit-in at the Central Shaheed Minar. However, another section of the protesters refused to leave and remained in front of the Press Club.
At around 1:55pm, police again instructed the teachers to vacate the road in front of the Press Club.
When a section of the protesters resisted, police used sound grenades and batons to disperse them. Water cannons were also brought in front of the Press Club.
Following the incident, the alliance announced a nationwide strike at all private educational institutions starting Monday in protest of the police action.
On Sept 30, the government increased the house rent allowance for MPO-registered teachers and employees by Tk 500. When the announcement was made public on Oct 5, teachers rejected it and called for further protests.
The next day, the education ministry sent a proposal to the Finance Division to raise the house rent allowance to at least Tk 2,000 or Tk 3,000.
MPO-listed teachers and employees receive their salaries according to the national pay scale, along with a monthly medical allowance of Tk 500 and a house rent allowance that was recently raised from Tk 1,000 to Tk 1,500.
They also receive two festival allowances a year. After an increase in May last year, both teachers and employees now receive the allowance at the rate of 50 percent of their basic salary.
