Pvt primary teachers also start agitation

Following the footsteps of secondary and higher secondary teachers, this time non-government primary schools teachers jumped on the bandwagon of demand for nationalisation yesterday. 

Several hundred teachers of the non-government schools also gathered in front of the capital's Jatiya Press Club where they started a sit-in and staged a “symbolic hunger strike” to press home their demand.

The teachers under the banner of Bangladesh Besarkari Prathomik Shikkhak Samity (a platform of teachers from non-government primary schools) said they have been deprived of the facilities of nationalisation even though their institutions meet all the necessary criteria.

This new movement comes at a time when teachers of MPO-listed secondary and higher secondary educational institutions for the seventh consecutive day had been staging a hunger strike programme with the same demand and refraining from holding classes.

According to the agitating primary teachers, the government already nationalised 26,193 primary schools that were established before May 9 of 2012 following the announcement in this regard by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on January 9, 2013.

But, around 4,000 primary educational institutions were not included in the third phase of the nationalisation process despite fulfilling the prerequisites for the process, said Mamunur Rashid, president of the platform.

"Committees were formed at district and upazila levels to recommend primary schools that were suitable to be nationalised. Unfortunately, though our institutions met all the criteria, we were left out," he alleged.

Mamunur also said their schools operate like any other government primary schools and their students participate in Primary Education Completion Examination every year. Yet they are excluded from the nationalisation process.

"We have jobs, but we don't get paid. Hence we are leading inhumane lives... We will continue our protest till our demand is met,” he added.

Meanwhile, the MPO-listed teachers of private secondary and higher secondary educational institutions refrained from holding classes at their institutions in different districts, said leaders of the agitating teachers.

The teachers began their hunger strike at the press club on January 15 under the banner of "Besarkari Shikkha Jatiyakaran Liaison Forum", a platform of six organisations of teachers and employees of MPO-listed private educational institutions.

Explaining the rationale for their movement, a number of agitating teachers said if all their institutions were nationalised, the government could earn approximately Tk 121.97 crore each month from student tuition fees.

This could be achieved if a student's monthly tuition fee is increased from Tk 15 to Tk 75. Moreover, the government could also earn around Tk 30 crore a year from the income generated from various properties of the institutions including ponds, markets and land, they also said.

GM Shawon, joint convener of the forum, said, "If the nationalisation is implemented, the government will be benefited. So will be the teachers."

As of yesterday, they are yet to get any response from the government, he also said.

A total of 98 teachers fell ill and 35 of them were hospitalised since they started their hunger strike.