Teachers and employees under the government鈥檚 monthly pay order system on Thursday announced an indefinite hunger strike from 2:00pm today, if their demands to hike their pay were not fulfilled by the time.
Their demands include allocation of 20 per cent of their basic pay in house rent allowance, Tk 1,500 as medical allowance and an increase in the festival allowance for employees from the current 50 per cent to 75 per cent.
The protesting teachers and employees announced the hunger strike by rejecting the government鈥檚 proposal to accept a 5 per cent of their basic pay in house rent allowance, with a minimum allocation of Tk 2,000.
They announced the new demonstration programme on the fourth consecutive day of their countrywide work abstention and non-stop sit-in programme on the capital鈥檚 Central Shaheed Minar premises.
Several thousand teachers and employees from different districts, under the banner of 鈥楳PO-bhukto Shikkha Jatiyakaran Pratyashi Jote鈥� gathered there since Thursday morning.
Though they were scheduled to hold a march towards Jamuna Thursday afternoon, the organisation鈥檚 member secretary Delawar Hossain Azizi, addressing the gathering at the Central Shaheed Minar, postponed the programme and announced that they would begin an indefinite hunger strike from 2:00pm on Friday if their demands were not met by the time.
He said that their work abstention at schools across the country and sit-in at the Central Shaheed Minar would continue until their demands are met.
Earlier in the day, a delegation of the protesting teachers met education adviser Chowdhury Rafiqul Abrar at the Bangladesh Secretariat.
Following the meeting, the adviser told reporters that the government had agreed to allocate 5 per cent of their basic pay as their house rent allowance, with a minimum allocation of Tk 2,000, from November.
Abrar said that the authorities could provide more if the teachers came with the demand before the budget allocation, as their demand was logical.
鈥榃e will also send recommendations to the finance ministry to increase the amount in the next year,鈥� he said, adding that the teachers rejected the proposals.
Returning from the meeting, Azizi told the gathering at the Central Shaheed Minar that the meeting with the adviser was not fruitful.
He termed the meeting an 鈥榚ye-wash鈥� and a conspiracy to foil their protests.
Meanwhile, another section of the MPO teachers and employees, under the banner of Teachers Employees Union, at a press conference at the National Press Club, said that the organisation would organise strict programmes from October 28 if the house rent was not announced as per government system by October 25.
The organisation鈥檚 chairman Salim Bhuiya also claimed that a vested group of the ousted Awami League was creating chaos on the streets and keeping the classes closed by holding students hostage.
The recent spate of protests by the MPO teachers and employees started on October 12.
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.