News Desk:
The teachers and employees of non-MPO educational institutions yesterday vowed to continue with their demonstration rejecting the education minister’s call to end their agitation.
The teachers and employees have been demonstrating for their demand to be enlisted under the government’s MPO facilities.
They will start their fast unto death programme this morning after holding five straight days of sit-in under the banner of “Non-MPO Shikhya Pratishthan Shikhyak Karmachari Federation” in front of the Jatiya Press Club.
“We have rejected his [education minister’s] call. We will start our hunger strike unto death at 9:00am tomorrow [today] and will not go home until our demand is met,” Principal Golam Mahmudunnabi, president of the federation, told The Daily Star last night.
Earlier, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid urged them to end their agitation and return to their homes.
“We are fighting for you [the non-MPO teachers] to ensure MPO facilities. We are not negligent about this. Please leave the streets and return home,” the minister said while replying to a query during the press conference on JSC results yesterday.
He said they have already informed the finance minister about the matter.
“We sought money from him [the finance minister] and have told him to come up with a policy to determine the criteria for getting MPO,” Nahid said.
He said a committee, led by State Minister for Finance MA Mannan, had been formed to formulate a policy on Monthly Pay Order (MPO) facilities.
“We want that all teachers get their salaries. They are the family members of the education ministry.
We have done our work. But the money that is needed for the MPO enlistment will have to be allocated by the finance ministry,” Nahid said.
“Lawmakers raised the matter in parliament and every time I spoke in favour of the teachers and the lack of funds that halted the process. But unfortunately, the teachers cannot accept the fact that we are fighting for them. Instead, they put pressure on us,” he added.
“Please don’t stay on the streets which may not yield any result. We have been trying our best. When the finance ministry allocates the money in our budget, we will give MPO instantly,” the minister added.
Hours after the minister’s call, Golam Mahmudunnabi said, “We have been hearing the same thing from the minister for years. He did not take any step for meeting our demand; rather he made negative remarks about us. This time we will not return home … .”
Several hundred teachers from across the country started a sit-in on Tuesday in front of the Jatiya Press Club, demanding enlistment under the government’s Monthly Pay Order (MPO) facilities.
MPO is the government’s share in the payroll of the non-government educational institutions. Under the scheme, the government gives 100 percent 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 facilities 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, 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 electoral pledge, and enlisting 1,624 private secondary and higher secondary schools and colleges in the MPO scheme.
The rest of the non-MPO teachers have been staging various protests since then.
Currently, more than four lakh teachers and employees of more than 26,340 secondary schools, colleges, madrasas, and technical institutes are receiving MPO facilities.
Daily Star Online
