Private MPO-listed teachers have started their “March to the Secretariat” program after 4pm on Tuesday, instead of the previously scheduled 12pm, to press home several demands, including a 20% increase in house rent allowance.
However, police stopped them near the Mazar Gate. At the time of this report, the teachers were still stationed at the Mazar Gate.
The announcement of the march came around 1:45pm at a briefing held at the Central Shaheed Minar by Delwar Hossain Azizi, member secretary of the National Alliance for the Nationalisation of MPO-Listed Education.
“Our work abstention will continue,” Azizi said. “No teacher will return to the classroom until a gazette is issued announcing a 20% house rent allowance, Tk1,500 medical allowance, and 75% festival allowance for staff.”
He added that during a meeting held at the Ministry of Education on August 13, attended by the education adviser, secretary, and senior officials, the ministry had agreed to implement these three demands — but no action has followed.
“We have exhausted all options for discussion,” Azizi said. “A decision was made, but it hasn’t been implemented. There’s nothing left to negotiate — we only want execution.”
He further said intelligence agencies have been keeping in touch with the protesters, and police requested that the march time be rescheduled to 4pm for security reasons.
“If the education and finance ministries hold a joint press briefing confirming that our demands have been accepted and a gazette will be issued within two to three days, we will suspend the march,” Azizi said. “Until then, the work abstention will continue.”
He claimed that teachers, students, political activists, and professional organisations across the country have expressed solidarity with the movement. “This is no longer just a teachers’ protest — people across Bangladesh now stand with us,” he said.
Earlier on Sunday afternoon, during a sit-in in front of the National Press Club, clashes broke out when police tried to disperse the teachers, leading to scuffles and the use of sound grenades. Tension gripped the area following the incident. Later, at the call of movement leaders, teachers relocated to the Central Shaheed Minar and announced an indefinite protest.
Teachers have since spent Sunday and Monday nights under the open sky at the Shaheed Minar, using plastic mats or banners for bedding. They said their movement and work abstention will continue until the government issues the gazette.
Meanwhile, MPO-listed teachers across the country are also observing work abstention. While they attend school daily, they are not entering classrooms or taking part in teaching activities, instead staging demonstrations in school courtyards, lounges, and offices.
In addition, teachers are holding protests in various districts carrying banners and placards, while many others have been posting on Facebook expressing solidarity with the protesters in Dhaka.
