MPO-listed teachers begin hunger strike at Shaheed Minar

Teachers and employees under the MPO (Monthly Pay Order) scheme have begun a hunger strike at the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital to press home their three-point demands.

Today marked the ninth consecutive day of their movement.

The demonstrators said they would continue their protest until their demands are met. They rejected the government’s recent decision to set house rent allowance at 5 percent of the basic salary or a minimum of Tk2,000, calling it “unrealistic and insufficient”.

The teachers have reiterated their demands for a 20 percent house rent allowance, an increase in medical allowance from Tk500 to Tk1,500, and a hike in festival allowance from 50 percent to 75 percent.

On 30 September, the government announced a Tk500 increase in house rent allowance. But after the official announcement on 5 October, teachers and employees rejected the proposal and launched their movement.

The Education Ministry later sent a proposal to the Finance Division to raise the allowance to Tk2,000 or Tk3,000.

On Sunday afternoon, their ‘hunger march’ was blocked by police and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) near the High Court Mazar Gate as they attempted to march from Shaheed Minar to the Education Ministry.

The protesters then returned to Shaheed Minar and resumed their sit-in programme. At a rally in that evening, Delawar Hossain Azizi, Member Secretary of the MPO Nationalisation Alliance, announced the start of an indefinite hunger strike.