Teachers stand rigid, govt adopts hard line

Teachers’ demand for nationalisation of the MPO-enrolled schools is getting louder when the government has taken a firm stance against the demonstrating teachers.

During a sit-in programme, the teachers have vowed to continue their movement until their demand is realised.

The movement has geared up after the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) issued a letter, asking all district education offices to make a list of the teachers absent from their schools.

The striking teachers say that they do not bother about such a letter as the government has been turning a blind eye to their legitimate demand for long.

Bazlur Rahman, president of Bangladesh Teachers Association (BTA), said that they submitted memorandums to the prime minister, the education ministry, the finance ministry and others concerned and held different programmes to press their longstanding demand.

“This time, we won’t return to our houses without realising our demand,” he said, adding: “We want to talk to the PM as the education minister’s statement has shocked us.”

On Sunday, the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) sent a letter to the district education offices across the country to make a list of the teachers absent from their workplaces.

The offices were asked to send the list by Monday morning.  Not only that, on July 20 the DSHE sent show-cause notices to 34 teachers to explain reasons of their absence from their institutions for five working days.

M Ziyaul Haider Henry, assistant director (secondary-2) of the DSHE, said that they were yet to get the list of the teachers absent from their classes.

But, sources in the directorate said that the education offices sent the list.

The sources’ information is found true as per Faridpur District Education Officer Bisnu Pada Ghoshal. He said that they made the list and sent it to the DSHE.

However, realising the hard stance of the government, the striking teachers and employees formed a new platform ‘Jatiyakaran Sangram Committee’ on Sunday to continue their strike.    

Several thousand teachers continued their movement in front of the Jatiya Press Club (JPC) on Tuesday, for the 15th day.

During their movement amid a heat wave, two striking teachers died of stroke and some became sick on Friday.

The discrimination the teachers had long been facing forced them to take to the streets for nationalisation.

Police actions against the teachers and ‘defaming words’ of Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni about their qualifications have annoyed them, some teachers said.

On July 11, they launched an indefinite movement under the banner of Bangladesh Teachers Association (BTA) in front of the Jatiya Press Club in the capital.

On the seventh day of their movement, police charged batons on the demonstrating teachers, leaving many injured.

On July 19, Education Minister Dipu Moni held a meeting with the representatives of the striking teachers.

In the meeting, she raised questions about their qualifications and clearly said that the nationalisation would not be possible before the next national election. The statement has dissatisfied the demonstrators.

According to some associations of the teachers, a job-seeker having passed honours or degree gets job as an assistant teacher at any government secondary school after passing examinations for 200 marks under the PSC.

On the other hand, a job-seeker having the same qualifications gets job at an MPO-enlisted school after passing examinations for 200 marks under the NTRCA.

An entry-level government schoolteacher gets Tk 16,000 as a basic salary and 45-50 percent of the basic as house rent, Tk 1,500 as medical allowance, 100 percent of basic as festival bonus.

But, an entry-level MPO-enrolled teacher gets Tk 12,500 as basic salary, only Tk 1,000 as house rent and Tk 500 as medical allowance.

Nazrul Islam Rony, president of Bangladesh Shikkhok Samity (Bhashis), said that they sent a budget to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2020 about the expenditure of 506,637 teachers and employees of 39,092 MPO-enrolled schools, colleges, madrasas and technical institutions throughout the country, with the incomes from movable properties of the institutions and about 1,62,63,724 students’ tuition fees and session charges.

He said that the government would not need to spend any money from its treasury if it took the incomes of the institutions and the students.

“Only the good will of the government will give cent percent rights of the teachers and employees,” he said.

The leader added that the declaration of nationalisation will save the teachers and the employees from domination and tyranny of managing committees and governing bodies.

Principal Asadul Haque, president of Bangladesh College Shikkhok Samity (Bakshis), echoed the same in regard to the managing committees and the governing bodies.

Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni said that the ongoing movement should not keep longer by holding students hostage.

“I want to say to teachers that you will not keep your feet into any trap,” she said at the 11th Convocation of Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology (AUST) on Monday.

She further said, “Two committees will be formed. After their reports, the government will decide if nationalisation will be possible or not because huge money will be needed to do this.”