MPO-affiliated teachers hold sit-in with black cloths on their faces, insist on their demands

MPO-affiliated teachers and employees have held a sit-in with black cloths on their faces in Tetulia, Panchagarh, demanding three points. They held the sit-in under the teak tree at Tetulia Chowrasta Bazar around 12 noon on Tuesday (October 21).

The protesting teachers said that their main three demands from the government are a 20 percent rent increase, elimination of discrimination against MPO-affiliated teachers and employees, and ensuring other reasonable facilities. They said that the movement will continue until the government issues a notification accepting the demands.

Tetulia Kazi Shahabuddin Girls' High School and College Principal Emdadul Haque, Sipaipara High School teachers Rabiul Islam Russell and Touhid Haque, Shalbahan High School teacher Sohrab Ali, Ranchandi High School teacher Idris Ali Bachchu, Fakirpara High School teacher Azizul Haque and Bhajanpur High School teacher Zillur Rahman, among others, spoke at the sit-in program.

The speakers said, "For a long time, MPO-affiliated teachers have been subjected to neglect and discrimination. We are deprived and undervalued compared to government teachers. Yet we play an equal role in the development of the education system."

They also said that their demand to the government is to issue a notification quickly to ensure the fair rights of teachers, otherwise the movement will be made more stringent.

Meanwhile, private MPO-affiliated teachers of the country have been staying at the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital for ten consecutive days with the same demand. They have started a hunger strike since the third day of the movement. In continuation of this, an indefinite strike is going on in about 30,000 educational institutions across the country, stopping teaching, which has entered its ninth day today.

The teacher leaders said, “Our movement is not political, it is a fight for fair rights. If we cannot attract the government’s attention, we will go for a more stringent program.”

The teachers of Tetulia said they hope that the government will take the initiative to implement their demands soon, so that the country’s education system returns to normal.

MNBD/Khademul Islam