Police foil secondary school teachers' demo
Secondary school teachers agitating for regularisation of their contractual jobs, could not start their pre-announced hunger strike yesterday due to police obstruction.
Under the banner of Additional Class Teachers' (ACT) Association, several hundred teachers started to gather in front of Jatiya Press Club around 10:00am, but law enforcers drove them away, association leaders said.
Earlier around midnight, police had removed them from the area, where they took position since Monday morning, they alleged.
“Many of us were injured and lost mobile phones and wallets when police launched the attack. We strongly condemn such attack on us at midnight, when we were asleep,” said Mamun Hossen, general secretary of the association.
“In the morning, we tried to take position nearby, but police obstructed us,” he added.
The association decided to hold a press conference in the next two days to announce schedule for fresh movement.
The Additional Class Teachers (ACT) are a section of secondary school teachers who were recruited under a World Bank-funded project -- “Education Quality and Access Enhancement Project” -- to improve students' math, science and English skills .
For a three-year tenure, the government recruited 5,200 such teachers in 2015.
The project ended on December 31 last year, but some 4,500 of them are still teaching, as government officials on various occasions assured them of making their jobs permanent, according to leaders of the association.
On Monday, they staged a daylong sit-in, demanding publication of a gazette regarding regularisation of their jobs, and announced to go for an “indefinite” hunger strike from yesterday.
Contacted, Abul Hasan, officer-in-charge of Shahbagh Police Station, said the teachers were “not given permission” for demonstration, which was why police drove them away.
“Besides, the prime minister has a programme at Chankharpool today. For that reason, security has been beefed up in press club area,” he added.
He, however, denied the “midnight attack”.
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