MPO teachers hold black flag march over three-point demand

Teachers and employees from non-government educational institutions, listed under the Monthly Pay Order (MPO) scheme, held a black flag march and protest rally on Saturday in support of their three-point demand.

The black flag march began at 12:00 pm from the Central Shaheed Minar. It proceeded through Doyel Chattar and ended at the Kadam Fountain area, where a large rally took place.

Several thousand schoolteachers and employees participated in the protest. During the rally, demonstrators chanted various slogans raising their demands that include resignation of the education adviser.

The three main demands of the protesting MPO teachers and employees are: a house rent allowance of twenty percent of their basic salary, a medical allowance of Tk1,500 and an increase in the festival allowance for employees to seventy-five percent.

Expressing solidarity with the movement, Rashed Khan, general secretary of Gana Adhikar Parishad, addressed the rally at Kadam Fountain.

He stated, "Teachers are not involved in corruption, it is the bureaucrats who engage in corruption. Bureaucrats enjoy cars, houses, and all kinds of benefits, while teachers are forced to protest under the scorching sun just to claim their basic rights. This is shameful for all of us."

Rashed Khan said they believe teachers deserve higher salaries than bureaucrats. He assured the protesters that Gana Adhikar Parishad will continue to stand beside them until their demands are met.

He added, "We are ready to join you in laying siege to the Secretariat. If needed, we will even lay a siege to the Jamuna. Gana Adhikar Parishad will give you all kinds of support to achieve your demands."

At the rally, Delwar Hossain Azizi, member secretary of the MPO Education Nationalisation Alliance, said, "We have no intention of putting the government in a difficult position. You can understand that from the nature of our programmes. But if this cooperation is seen as weakness and teachers are pushed to rebellion, we want to tell the administration, no force of yours will be able to suppress it."

Delwar Hossain Azizi further said that they came to the Shaheed Minar with a vow to give their lives if necessary. He stressed that twenty percent means exactly that, twenty percent. One thousand five hundred taka means exactly that, one thousand five hundred taka. Seventy-five percent means seventy-five percent. No excuses will be accepted.

In response to allegations from the administration that some non-government institutions have secured MPO enlistment in exchange for money, Delwar Hossain Azizi said, "If any institution got MPO enlistment through bribery, then the officials who accepted that money must be identified and brought to justice immediately."

Since last Sunday, teachers and employees have been holding various protest programmes such as sit-ins at the National Press Club and the Central Shaheed Minar, long marches towards the Secretariat, and blockades at Shahbagh intersection. Protesters have declared they will continue the movement until their demands are fulfilled. Most recently, they began a hunger strike at the Central Shaheed Minar at around 2.15 at noon on Friday, joined by over a hundred teachers and employees.

They have also warned that if their demands are not met, they will continue the hunger strike until death. Alongside the protests in the capital, they are also observing work stoppages at various non-government educational institutions across the country.

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