Teachers and employees of educational institutions, not enlisted for the monthly pay order, block Purana Paltan intersection in Dhaka on Monday, demanding their enlistment. — New Age photo

Non-government teachers and employees on Monday started indefinite sit-in in front of the National Press Club pressing for inclusion of their educational institutions in the Monthly Pay Order programme.
Non-MPO Shikkha Pratishthan Shikkhak-Karmachari Oikya Jote, a platform of the non-government teachers, also demanded payment of their salaries and allowances since approval of the institutions.
Addressing the sit-in, the teacher leaders said that the sit-in to continue until realisation of their demands.
They said that around 7,000 educational institutions across Bangladesh with around 1 lakh teachers and employees were yet to be enlisted under the MPO facilities, although most of them fulfilled all the criteria.
Several hundred teachers and employees of non-government schools, colleges, madrassahs and technical education institutes, gathered in front of the press club about 11:00am and kept the one side of Topkhana Road occupied.
They also blocked the Purana Paltan intersection for an hour from 1:20pm, causing huge traffic conjugation in the adjacent area.
Oikya jote president Mohammad Esharat Ali and general secretary Tapas Kumar Kundu administrated an oath to the teachers that they would not leave street until their demand was met.
Teachers and employees have been demonstrating for long seeking their inclusion in the MPO list.
Earlier on October 5, 2012, the police charged baton to disperse the teachers’ from the same venue injuring at least 50 teachers and employees.
The teacher, however, had suspended their sit-in on the fourth day following assurance of having a meeting with the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to discuss their demands.
As no such meeting was arranged, the teachers on December 30, 2012 issued an ultimatum to the government to meet the demands by January 5, threatening an indefinite sit-in.