Teachers to lay siege to Secretariat today

Non-government school and college teachers try to force through iron barricades as they are obstructed by police while heading for Prime Minister's Office (PMO) from Jatiya Press Club in the capital yesterday. The protesters were demanding Monthly Pay Order (MPO) facility from the government. Photo: STAR

Teachers and employees of non-government schools and colleges will lay siege to Bangladesh Secretariat today to press home their demand for including the institutions in the government's Monthly Pay Order (MPO) list.
On the third day of their agitation, a six-member representative team led by Ershat Ali yesterday announced their new demonstration after submitting a memorandum to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in the afternoon.
In the memorandum, they mentioned their five-point demand, including enlisting all government approved educational institutions in the MPO facility in this fiscal year and abolishing the practice of Demand Order letter (D/O), sanctioned by lawmakers, for MPO enlistment.
Hundreds of agitators under the banner of Non-MPO Shikkha Pratishthan Shikkhak Karmachari Oikyajote staged their sit-in wearing shrouds in front of the Jatiya Press Club around 10:00am.
They also brought out a protest procession heading to Paltan with the slogan -- “MPO is our right, not anyone's compassion “.
Around 12:00pm, they started marching towards PMO for submitting the memorandum. However, police intercepted them in front of Shishu Park at Shahbag.
After failing to break the police barricade, some of them scuffled with the police. Finally, they sat on the road at Shahbagh until 3:00pm, leading to a serious traffic jam on the route from Shahbag to the Jatiya Press club.