Teachers of the secondary-level schools under the government monthly pay order system have taken to the streets again as their demand for pay hike has remained unmet for long.
And the police were often high-handed in their dealings with the protesting teachers, drawing criticism from different sections of people.
The latest was on Sunday when the police dispersed the teachers using water cannon, hurling sound grenades and charging batons on them in the capital as they blocked the road in front of the National Press Club in the capital Dhaka, demanding pay hike.
It has become a common scenario in the capital Dhaka that teachers are spending days and nights under the open sky on streets, demanding an increase in their salary which is very low compared with that in the neighbouring countries.
On Monday, teachers under the MPO system started a non-stop sit-in on the Central Shaheed Minar premises in the capital, demanding 20 per cent increase in the house rent allowance, Tk 1,500 as medical allowance and an increase in the festival allowance for employees from the exiting 50 per cent to 75 per cent.
Same day, they also observed the first day of their countrywide work abstention for an indefinite period and vowed to continue their protests until their demands are met.
The work abstention was observed at different places, including Rangpur, Patuakhali, Bhola, Munshiganj and Khagrachari districts. In the Dhaka city, academic activities remained normal at many schools under the MPO system while teachers said they had support for the movement.
At the entry level, an assistant teacher at the secondary schools under the MPO system gets Tk 12,500 as gross salary, Tk 1,000 as house rent and Tk 500 as treatment allowance.
In every month, 10 per cent of the gross salary is deducted for the welfare trust of the teachers.
In May, the government increased the festival allowance for the teachers from 25 per cent to 50 per cent following their protests for about a week.
They also held programmes in August and September this year with the same demands.
The white paper on the state of the Bangladesh economy, published in December past year, stated that the average monthly salary of a primary school teacher was $953.13 in the Maldives, $284.64 in India, $250.44 in Sri Lanka, $206.07 in Pakistan, $189.22 in Myanmar and $170.02 in Bangladesh.
‘In terms of primary school teachers’ salaries, Bangladesh ranks 45th among Asian countries and 7th in South Asia,’ it said.
Since Sunday, many teachers, who came to Dhaka from different districts to join the protests, had stayed in the Central Shaheed Minar area. They had spent the night there under the open sky by sleeping on the ground.
On Monday morning, teachers from different districts and areas of the capital started to gather at the premises.
‘You can’t imagine how I manage a family, with three children studying, with this small amount of salary,’ said Mehedy Hasan, assistant teacher of Nurainpur Nesaria Fazil Madrassah in Patuakhali.
Dhaka University physics department professor Md Kamrul Hassan on Monday told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that the government should increase the salary of these teachers by three to four times considering the high prices of essentials and costly living in Bangladesh.
‘We hoped that the interim government would realise the condition of the teachers,’ he said, adding, ‘unfortunately still teachers are being beaten on roads.’
¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· correspondent in Rangpur reported that teachers of MPO-listed non-government schools, colleges, and madrasas in the district on Monday suspended academic activities, protesting against the attack on teachers in the capital in the previous day.
Many of the teachers in the district did not take classes on the day.     Â
