Teachers to resume nonstop sit-in demo

Teachers of private educational institutions said they would resume their sit-in programme demanding inclusion of their institutions into the government’s monthly pay order (MPO).

Federation of Teachers and Employees of Non-MPO Educational Institutions announced on Sunday that members of the platform will begin sit-in demonstration in front of the National Press Club at 10:00am on Monday.

The teachers came up with the announcement after another sit-in at the same venue on Sunday, which they continued since 10 June.

They have even staged a demonstration on the Eid day there after the Eid prayers.

“Our movement (sit-in) was running half a day due to Ramada and Eid. We will be staying on the streets until being enlisted in MPO as per the prime minister’s pledge,” said president of the federation Golam Mahmudunnabi.

On 31 December 2017, the non-MPO teachers began their hunger strike that continued till 5 January this year.

They stopped their strike after an official of the prime minister’s office (PMO) told the agitators that their demand would be fulfilled soon.

Some of the agitating teachers said the government last enlisted institutions as MPO in 2010. None of the institutions has been made MPO since then.

However, the government is saying that it is a continuous process.

The teachers said they have been suffering from huge financial crisis.

“No allocation has been made for us in this budget. So, we’ve to come back to the streets,” said teachers’ leader Mahmudunnabi. “The non-MPO institutions are not being enlisted as MPO just for the education minister’s ego.”

General secretary of the federation Binoy Bhushan told Prothom Alo that many of the teachers have started their journey to Dhaka to join the sit-in programme on Monday morning.

There are 7,500 non-MPO educational institutions in the country. Of these, 5,240 have been recognised by the government.

Source: Prothom-Alo