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Published : 17 Oct 2025, 12:03 PM
Teachers and employees of educational institutions listed in the government's monthly pay order (MPO) scheme are conducting a sixth day of protests to demand their housing allowance be increased to 20 percent of their basic salary.
On Friday morning, more than 200 teachers were seen at a sit-in demonstration at the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka.
Fazlul Haque, a protesting teacher from Munshiganj, told bdnews24.com that some protesters planned to launch a hunger strike if the government did not accept their demand by 2pm.
The protesters say they will also continue their work stoppage and other demonstrations unless a deal is reached.
On Thursday, several thousand protesters had gathered at the Central Shaheed Minar with plans to conduct a march to the State Guest House Jamuna, the chief advisor's official residence, to press home their demands. The programme was eventually suspended and the protesters instead announced that they would launch a hunger strike on Friday.
Several protest leaders had also met with government officials over their demands in recent days, but no breakthrough has been made.
Principal Delwar Hossain Azizi, secretary of the MPO-affiliated teachers and employees’ platform Education Nationalisation Aspiration Alliance and a leader of the protest, said: “There has been an extended delay in giving us our rights. Now, either the government will accept our demands, or we will go on hunger strike.”
The MPO-listed teachers and staff are demanding 20 percent of their basic salary as housing allowance, an increase in medical allowance from Tk 500 to Tk 1,500, and an increase in the festival allowance from 50 percent to 75 percent of the basic salary.
The protests began on Sunday with sit-ins at the National Press Club, later moving to the Shaheed Minar after police intervention.
Tensions escalated when a section of teachers attempted to maintain their protest in front of the Press Club, prompting police to use stun grenades, water cannons, and batons.
Since Monday, continuous strikes across private educational institutions have been observed in protest of police actions. Protesters have also threatened to escalate their demonstrations.
The government had increased house rent allowance by Tk 500 on Sept 30, but the announcement on Oct 5 was rejected by teachers.
Subsequent proposals sent to the finance ministry on Oct 6 suggested raising house rent allowance to Tk 2,000–3,000.
At the moment, MPO-affiliated teachers receive salary under the national pay scale, a Tk 500 monthly medical allowance, and a festival allowance of 50 percent of base salary.
On Wednesday, the protesters had gathered at the Shaheed Minar before blocking the Shahbagh intersection for about three hours and then returning to the Shaheed Minar afterwards.
