Non-MPO teachers, employees stage token hunger strike

Teachers and employees of non- monthly pay order (MPO) educational institutions staged a token hunger strike in front of the Jatiya Press Club on Saturday demanding bringing them under the MPO scheme, reports UNB.
Ignoring heavy rains, the teachers and employees under the banner of 'Non-MPO Educational Institution Teachers' and Employees' Federation started their hunger strike around 9:00 am and continued until 3:00 pm, said Dr Binoy Bhushan Roy, general secretary of the platform.
However, after breaking the token hunger strike in the afternoon, they continued the sit- in programme for the 14 consecutive days despite heavy rainfall, said Dr Binoy adding that they will stage token hunger strike on Sunday as well.
"As the teachers and employees demonstrated in the heavy rain, some 25 to 30 of them fell sick and joined again after taking primary treatment," the general secretary told the news agency.
From June 10, they have started demonstration to press home their demand.
Although they initially observed the sit-in for half day every day, the teachers and employees went on a non-stop sit-in programme from Monday last.
Earlier on June 20, Dr Binoy Bhushan said the teachers will go on a hunger strike unto death from June 25 if the demand is not met by June 24.
On December 31, 2017, teachers and employees of non-MPO educational institutions had started observing hunger strike unto death to press for their demand and ended the demonstrations on January 05 last after getting Prime Minister's assurance of meeting their demand.
As there is no specific budget allocation for the 2018-2019 fiscal year in this regard, they again started their demonstrations for the second round.