Launch carrying teachers from Barishal to Dhaka detained in Chandpur; protesters vow to continue movement

Staff Correspondent

Police have seized a launch in Chandpur carrying more than a thousand teachers from Barisal to Dhaka to join the rent increase movement.

The incident took place at Chandpur Launch Ghat in the early hours of Sunday, October 19.

A leader of the Teachers’ Coordination Committee, who asked not to be named, said that when the launch reached Chandpur around 4 am, the police stopped it and detained more than a thousand teachers. The rest are currently stranded in Chandpur. He alleged that they are not being allowed to board other launches bound for Dhaka either.

He said, “We wanted to go to Dhaka and join the movement. But when we reached Chandpur, the police stopped the launch and made everyone get off. We are not even being allowed to board any launch bound for Dhaka.”

He further said that more than 500 teachers from Jhalakathi to Dhaka have been stopped on the orders of the Jhalakathi Superintendent of Police.

Meanwhile, teachers in Dhaka’s Shahbagh continued their sit-in today, rejecting the government’s announcement of a 5 percent increase in rent allowance as ‘insufficient’.

Teacher leaders said that last Friday, the government announced that the house rent allowance would be set at 5 percent of the basic salary or a minimum of Tk 2,000.

However, they are claiming that this increase is ‘insufficient’ and their main demand is to increase the house rent allowance to 20 percent of the salary and medical allowance to Tk 1,500.

Principal Delwar Hossain Aziji, member secretary of the MPO-affiliated Education Nationalization Alliance, made this announcement in a reaction immediately after the Finance Ministry issued the order.

In a post on his Facebook ID, he wrote, “The notification of 5 percent house rent allowance is the initial victory of our movement. But all our programs will continue until the notification of 20 percent house rent, 1500 taka medical allowance, and 75 percent festival allowance is issued.”

Meanwhile, teachers and employees are continuing their sit-in and hunger strike at the National Shaheed Minar for the 8th day today. As a new program, they have announced a hunger march towards Shiksha Bhavan at 12 noon.