The teachers and employees of the non-MPO educational institutions continued their fast unto death programme on Monday for the second consecutive day demanding enlistment under the government's Monthly Payment Order (MPO) facility.
The teachers vowed not to backtrack from the hunger strike until their demand is met.
"This time we will not go back home. This is a 20-year problem. We want our right, nothing more nothing less," President of Non-MPO Shikkha Pratishthan Shikkhak Karmachari Federation Golam Mahmudun Nabi Dollar told The Financial Express.
The teachers under the banner of "Non-MPO Shikkha Pratishthan Shikkhak Karmachari Federation" started the programme on Sunday in front of the National Press Club in the city.
Earlier, they staged a five-day sit-in programme at the same place on the same demand.
They started tougher programme as their demands were not met until Saturday.
MPO is the government's share in the payroll of the non-government educational institutions.
Under the scheme, the government gives 100 per cent basic salaries to the teachers of non-government schools.
The teachers also get a lump sum amount as other allowances from the MPO.
As per rules, the educational institutions first come under MPO facility and then the government enlists the teachers in the payroll.
According to the leaders of the federation, the number of non-MPO educational institutions is 5,242 where around 80,000 teachers are working without any pay, with some for more than a decade.
This is because the schools do not have the ability to pay the teachers while the government stopped enlisting the institutions for MPO due to "fund crisis".
After a suspension of six years by the then BNP-led alliance government, the Awami League-led government revived the MPO facility in 2010 as per its election pledge, enlisting 1,624 private secondary and higher secondary schools and colleges in the MPO scheme.
Teachers of the institutions which were not brought under MPO have been staging protests since then.
Currently, more than 400,000 teachers and employees of more than 26,340 secondary schools, colleges, madrasas and technical institutes are receiving MPO facility.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
