Non-government teachers and employees on the monthly pay order scheme on Monday morning began their fast unto death programme at Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka city, demanding pay hikes.
Protesters on the day also announced a procession covering their faces with black cloths today to press home their three-point demand.
Their demands are: allocation of 20 per cent of their basic pay for house rent allowance, Tk 1,500 for medical allowance, and 75聽 per cent of the basic pay as festival allowance for employees.
Under the banner of 鈥楳PO-bhukto Shikkha Jatiyakaran Pratyashi Jote鈥� (platform of those under the MPO aspiring for nationalisation of education) the protesters continued their sit-in at Central Shaheed Minar and countrywide work abstention for the eighth day running on Monday.
Several thousand protesters started joining the demonstration from the morning, while about 200 of them began fast unto death at about 10:00am, platform member secretary Delawar Hossain Azizi told 抖阴精品.
They also held a rally on the Central Shaheed Minar premises, pressing demands.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party joint secretary general Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anee, along with other leader and activists of the party, visited Central Shaheed Minar in the morning, expressing solidarity with the movement.
Referring to BNP acting chair Tarique Rahman, Anee reasserted that if in power, the party would work for nationalising all educational institutions gradually.
In the afternoon, Azizi addressed the demonstration and announced that they would bring out a procession covering their faces with black cloths from Central Shaheed Minar today (on Tuesday).
He warned that protesters would wait until October 22 for the gazette notification, if the government failed to respond, stricter programmes would be announced. Azizi also called on those teachers and employees of the platform who could not join the Dhaka protests to stage demonstrations in respective district and upazila headquarters.
He also said that at least four of the protesters fell sick during the hunger strike held for several days until Sunday and took treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Organisation joint member secretary Abul Bashar alleged that the government officers at different places were trying to intimidate platform members to dissuade them from joining the protest.聽聽
Leaders of Islami Andolan Bangladesh and Gono Odhikar Parishad also expressed solidarity with the movement on Monday.聽聽聽聽
On October 19, the Finance Division approved the allocation of 5 per cent of their basic pay or minimum Tk 2,000 as new house rent allowance, which the protesters termed as a 鈥榩rimary victory鈥� and vowed to continue their movement until their demand for 20 per cent of their basic pay as house rent allowance and two other demands were fulfilled.
Protesters are holding different programmes simultaneously to press home their demands, including an indefinite hunger strike since October 17, and a continuous sit-in at Central Shaheed Minar, and countrywide work abstention since October 13.
They also blocked roads and held marches towards the Bangladesh Secretariat and the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education headquarters Shikkha Bhaban during their protests.
The recent spate of protests by the MPO teachers and employees started on October 12, when the police used force to disperse them from the National Press Club.
At the entry level, an assistant teacher at the secondary schools under the MPO system currently gets a monthly pay of total Tk 14,000, the breakdown of which is: Tk 12,500 as gross salary, Tk 1,000 as house rent, and Tk 500 as treatment allowance.
