Teachers to begin hunger strike from Monday as work stoppage intensifies

 

Rejecting the government’s decision to increase house rent allowance by only 5% of the basic salary or a minimum of Tk 2,000, MPO-listed teachers have announced an indefinite hunger strike starting today. At the same time, they declared that the ongoing work stoppage at all private educational institutions across the country will be further intensified.

On Sunday (October 19), the Regulation Division of the Ministry of Finance issued an office order stating that considering the government’s budget limitations, MPO-listed teachers and employees of private educational institutions will receive a house rent allowance at the rate of 5% of their basic salary, with a minimum of Tk 2,000.

Earlier, on September 30, the government had announced a Tk 500 increase in the allowance. However, after the declaration was made public on October 5, teachers and staff rejected it and called for a protest movement.

Later, the Ministry of Education proposed to the Finance Division to raise the house rent allowance to at least Tk 2,000 or Tk 3,000.

Around 3:30 p.m. Sunday, a “Hunger March” program organized by protesting teachers and staff was obstructed by police and BGB personnel near the High Court Mazar Gate as they attempted to march from the Shaheed Minar to the Education Ministry. The protesters later returned to Shaheed Minar around 4:45 p.m. and began a sit-in program there.

At a rally held in the evening, Delwar Hossain Azizi, member secretary of the MPO-Listed Education Nationalization Alliance, announced the beginning of an indefinite hunger strike starting at 10 a.m. Monday.

He stated, “We reject the appeal made by Education Adviser Professor Chowdhury Rafiqul Abrar. We have no confidence in him. Now we are looking toward the Chief Adviser.”

Earlier in the day, a delegation of the protesting teachers and staff met with BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. In the afternoon, DUCSU VP Sadek Kayem expressed solidarity with the teachers at the Shaheed Minar.

Meanwhile, Education Adviser Professor Chowdhury Rafiqul Abrar urged the teachers to return to their classrooms and resume teaching, saying to reporters at the Secretariat, “We are appealing to teachers to go back to class and start lessons again.”

The MPO-Listed Education Nationalization Alliance has been staging demonstrations since October 12, demanding a 20% house rent allowance, an increase in medical allowance from Tk 500 to Tk 1,500, and a rise in festival allowance from 50% to 75% of the basic salary.

That day, the teachers and staff began their sit-in program in front of the National Press Club but later moved to Shaheed Minar at the request of police. Eventually, the protest was dispersed with sound grenades, water cannons, and baton charges. In response, teachers and staff began an indefinite work stoppage across all private institutions from October 14.

Since then, they have continued their movement with sit-ins at the National Press Club and Shaheed Minar, long marches toward the Secretariat, and blockades at Shahbagh.