Rejecting the government’s order to increase their house rent allowance by only 5 percent, MPO-listed teachers and employees of private educational institutions continued their sit-in and hunger strike for the ninth consecutive day at Dhaka’s Central Shaheed Minar.
On Monday morning, the teachers announced a fresh assembly alongside their ongoing hunger strike. As the day progressed, the number of participants increased, with teachers arriving from various districts across the country to join the program.
On Sunday evening, Principal Delwar Hossain Azizi, Member Secretary of the MPO-Listed Education Nationalization Alliance, announced the day’s program. In a Facebook post early Monday, he urged teachers to join the assembly at 10 a.m. at Shaheed Minar.
Earlier, following a meeting with BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Azizi told the media that Fakhrul had assured them he would discuss their demands with the government’s finance adviser and would personally visit the protesting teachers on October 22.
He added that the hunger strike would continue and that MPO-listed teachers and staff at all private institutions would observe a work stoppage.
Notably, the teachers have been protesting since October 12 under a three-point demand:
1️⃣ Increasing house rent allowance to 20% of the basic salary,
2️⃣ Raising medical allowance from Tk 500 to Tk 1,500,
3️⃣ Increasing festival allowance from 50% to 75% of the basic salary.
Although the Ministry of Finance issued a circular on Sunday announcing a 5% increase in house rent allowance, the teachers rejected it and vowed to continue their movement.
Later in the afternoon, protesting teachers and staff attempted to march toward the Education Ministry carrying plates and bowls in a symbolic “hunger procession,” but law enforcement stopped them at the High Court Mazar Gate. The demonstrators then returned to Shaheed Minar and resumed their sit-in protest.