Non-MPO teachers give govt 23 June ultimatum

Non-MPO teachers give govt 23 June ultimatum

Dhaka, Jun 18 (Just News): Teachers of non-MPO (monthly payment order) educational institutions have given the government a 23 June ultimatum to bring them under MPO, otherwise they will launch tougher agitation including hunger strike.

The teachers under the banner of Federation of Teachers and Employees of Non-MPO Educational Institutions declared this at a sit-in demonstration in front of the National Press Club on Monday.

"Schools and colleges will remain closed until 23 April. If the government does not take any decision by then, we will be forced to go for tougher programmes," said president of the federation Golam Mahmudunnabi.

The agitating teachers of non-MPO educational institutions even staged a demonstration on Eid day after the Eid prayers.

“We'll be staying on the streets until enlisted in MPO as per the prime minister’s pledge,” Golam Mahmudunnabi told Prothom Alo.

On 31 December 2017, the non-MPO teachers began their hunger strike that continued till 5 January this year.

They stopped their strike after an official of the prime minister’s office (PMO) told the agitators that their demands would be fulfilled soon.

Some of the agitating teachers said the government last enlisted institutions as MPO in 2010. None of the institutions has been made MPO since then.

However, the government is saying that it is a continuous process.

The teachers said they have been suffering from huge financial crisis.

“No allocation has been made for us in this budget. So we are back to the streets,” said the teachers’ leader Mahmudunnabi. "The non-MPO institutions are not being enlisted as MPO just because of the education minister's ego.”

General secretary of the federation Binoy Bhushan told Prothom Alo that many of the teachers have started their journey to Dhaka to join the sit-in programme on Monday morning.

There are 7500 non-MPO educational institutions in the country. Of these, 5240 have been recognised by the government.


(Justnews/ys/1620hr)