No compromise, teachers firm on allowance demands

Member-Secretary of the MPO-listed Education Nationalisation Expectant Alliance, Principal Delwar Hossain Azizi, has said that house rent allowance will not be reduced by even 1% from the demanded 20%. Similarly, the proposed medical allowance of Tk 1,499 will not be accepted—it must be raised to Tk 1,500. He also demanded that employees’ festival bonuses be paid at 75%. Otherwise, the movement will continue.

“Our protests will go on until the demands are met. We are heading to Shahbagh shortly to enforce a blockade programme,” he announced on Wednesday (October 15) at a sit-in demonstration of teachers at the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka.

Azizi further warned that if incidents of violence and harassment against teachers across the country are not stopped, the movement will intensify. “If the government had issued the gazette without forcing us into protests, teachers would not have had to suffer like this. But now, after our teachers have been beaten and bloodied at the National Press Club, slapped inside police boxes, and had their beards pulled, no proposal short of full demands will be accepted,” he declared.

Addressing law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and the government, Azizi said: “We want 20% house rent allowance—nothing less. We want 75% festival bonus—neither 74 nor 74.5 will be acceptable.”

He added that the fire of this movement has now spread across the country. “The quicker you issue the gazette, the better for you. We want to return to classrooms, but until the gazette is published, our movement will continue,” he said.

Azizi also mentioned that their Chief Adviser has returned to the country, and they expect a positive response from the government soon. “We are beginning the Shahbagh blockade programme. Every protest will be peaceful. It may take more time, but we will not step back,” he affirmed.

Meanwhile, teachers have continued their sit-in at the Central Shaheed Minar for the fourth consecutive day, joined by colleagues from various institutions across the country.