Teachers and employees under the government鈥檚 monthly pay order (MPO) system on Thursday gave the government an ultimatum till 5:00pm the same day to meet their demands, including a 20 per cent increase in house rent allowance.
Earlier in the afternoon, a delegation of the protesting teachers met education adviser Chowdhury Rafiqul Abrar at the Bangladesh Secretariat.
Following the meeting, the adviser told reporters, quoting the finance ministry, that the government had agreed to raise the house rent allowance by 5 per cent, with a minimum increase of Tk 2,000.
Rejecting the proposal, the teachers said they wanted a 10 per cent hike in house rent now and another 10 per cent increase in the next fiscal year.
They also announced the postponement of their planned 鈥楳arch to Jamuna鈥� programme until 5:00pm on Thursday.
Since October 12, MPO teachers and employees have been staging demonstrations to press home three demands 鈥� 20 per cent of their basic salary as house rent allowance, Tk 1,500 as medical allowance, and an increase in festival allowance for employees from 50 per cent to 75 per cent of their basic pay.
On Thursday, the teachers also continued their countrywide work abstention and non-stop sit-in programme on the Central Shaheed Minar premises at Dhaka University for the fourth consecutive day.