The teachers of the secondary-level schools under the monthly pay order system on Sunday besieged the Shikkha Bhaban in the capital for an hour demanding the nationalisation of their jobs, pay hike and arrears before Eid-ul-Azha, expected to be observed in the first week of June.
They, under the banner of the Unity Council of Teachers and Employees, began their demonstration at the Shikkha Bhaban, the headquarters of the Directorate General of Secondary Education, at about 11:30am.
The teachers withdrew their programme from there at about 12:30pm after the officials of the directorate had assured them that the authorities would begin to provide salaries for April to 5.5 lakh MPO teachers from Monday.
The demonstrators later went to the National Press Club where they had been staging an indefinite sit-in programme since Saturday morning to press home their demands.
At about 12:30pm, a team of representatives of the unity council went to meet the directorate鈥檚 director general professor Muhammad Azad Khan and held a closed-door meeting with him.
After the meeting, the unity council chairman and Bangladesh Teachers鈥� Association president Mohammad Kawser Ali Sheikh said that the director general assured them that the salaries of 5.5 lakh MPO teachers for April would start entering the Electronic Fund Transfer system from Sunday.
鈥楴ow we will continue our sit-in programme in front of the National Press Club to realise our demands for the nationalisation of our jobs and a rise in our festival and medical allowances and house rent before Eid-ul-Azha,鈥� he added.
On March 5, the then adviser for the education ministry Wahiduudin Mahmud announced an increase in the festival, medical and recreation allowances and house rent of the teachers from this Eid-ul-Azha and added that a fund was also created to provide them with retirement benefits.
His announcement came after teachers under the MPO system enforced a strike for 22 days.
The teachers, following the announcement, on March 6 postponed their strike till Eid-ul-Azha.
Currently, the teachers under the MPO system get 25 per cent of their basic salary as festival allowance, Tk 1,000 as house rent and Tk 500 as medical allowance but get no pension.
At the entry level, an assistant teacher under the MPO system gets Tk 12,500 gross salary.
On the other hand, at government schools, an entry-level teacher gets Tk 16,000 as basic salary, Tk 1,500 as medical allowance, 100 per cent of their basic salary as festival allowance, and 45 per cent of their basic pay as house rent, leaders of the protesting teachers said.
