A Rickshaw puller the name of Najrul Islam says, Sir, You are a teacher if you pay 10 taka as rent, then where will we go? But a rickshaw puller gets 7 to 800 taka as a fare at the end of the day. Accordingly, his monthly income is 24 thousand taka. But the salary of a secondary teacher is only 12 to 14 thousand taka. So there is benefit with the title of education guru or honorable person? Living in the same society, no one will lower the price of everyday goods. Rather, those rickshaw puller will get the government benefits from The public representatives not teachers.
The leaders of the ruling political party have repeatedly assured to resolve the discrimination of festival allowance and house rent of MPO teachers. In this way, despite giving assurance to one’s promise, it is not being implemented. Such discrimination is not known to exist in any other country in the world. Looking at the neighboring countries, you can understand the difference. However, 97% of the country’s education including secondary and higher education is provided by MPO teachers. Deprived of rights, they have to struggle to keep up with the price of goods. Just because the word teacher is added before the name,
However, We have to believe in this saying that built a house at the door of hope . Recently, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s political advisor Kabir Bin Anwar, Education Minister Mahibul Hasan Chowdhury, Awami League’s Education Affairs Secretary Shamchunnahar Champa and teachers’ leaders have promised to resolve the disparity between public and private teachers. After receiving this assurance, the MPO teachers are looking towards the realization of that dream.
Recently, a report has published of a Daily , it was reported that Sheikh Kawshar Ahmed, the general secretary of Bangladesh Teachers Association (BTA), protesting in front of the Awami League party office in Dhanmondi of the capital, said that the disparities between public and private teachers in festival allowance, house rent, medical allowance will be removed. The Prime Minister’s Political Advisor assured. The Minister of Education and the Education Secretary of Awami League have agreed to eliminate these inequalities. And they assured that teachers will be included in the announcement of the committee on nationalization. Along with this, the committee will scrutinize and submit to the honorable Prime Minister how much money will be required to eliminate these discriminations of MPO teachers. How much hypocrisy will you do with teachers? It is better to speak the truth instead of giving false hope.
In the briefing, former deputy education minister and current education minister Mahibul Hasan Chowdhury Naufel said that a large part of our secondary and higher secondary education is conducted in private educational institutions. However, there are some salary differences between government and private teachers, which are very important to address. which we ourselves perceive. We have already conducted a workshop to determine the amount of money required for this. Two committees have been formed on the instructions of the Honourable Prime Minister. The committee which is working on the financial matter. First we have to see how to eliminate the difference in financial benefits between government teachers and private teachers. We have to solve that. Efforts are being made to reduce the difference between government teachers and MPO teachers in festival allowance, house rent, medical allowance.
When asked if any discrimination between public and private teachers will be eliminated, the minister said that the discrimination will be eliminated in the light of the report of the committee on nationalization.
He also said, we respect the teachers. We always respect our teachers. We feel their pain. Their cries made us all think. There should be no discrimination between public and private teachers. This discrimination will be eliminated.
Earlier, Prime Minister’s Political Advisor Kabir Bin Anwar said, Honourable Prime Minister is always education friendly. Under her leadership we have been able to bring education to this level. The quality of life of teachers is improving. Discussions with teacher leaders have been fruitful. The teachers told us about their demands. I hope those issues will be resolved soon.
Several thousands of teachers started sit-in programs under the banner of Bangladesh Teachers’ Association (BTA) and demanding nationalization of secondary and higher education. The teachers did not leave the streets even though the former education ministers repeatedly called them to return to their classrooms. They went on a mass hunger strike, the prime minister after talking to the political advisor got that assurance and went back to class. But the work has not been implemented till date.
Teachers say that MPO teachers get only 25 percent festival allowance, Tk 1,000 house rent and Tk 500 medical allowance. Despite teaching the same syllabus in the same curriculum, there is a huge difference in the salaries of government and private teachers-employees. Principals of private educational institutions are being paid one step lower than principals in government educational institutions. Private teachers and employees have to wait for years to get retirement benefits and welfare trust money after retirement. Moreover, for the past few years, an additional 4 percent has been deducted from the salaries of teachers and employees in the retirement benefits and welfare trust sector. It was protested but no remedy was found.
The current government has announced to build a smart Bangladesh. Education should be given priority to build a smart Bangladesh. Smart teachers are needed to make the education system smart. Therefore, the quality of life of teachers should be improved. They should work seriously to implement their rights.
The writer is an Assistant Professor and Head of Department at (Sociology), RoseyMozammel Women’s Honors College. Editor & publisher Daily Banalata.President of Gurudaspur Model press club.
