Following into the footsteps of non-MPO teachers, ebtedai madrasa teachers have also launched a hunger strike demanding nationalisation of all registered institutions.

Hundreds of madrasa teachers, at the demonstration near Jatiya Press Club, vowed to continue demo until Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announces nationalisation of their madrasas. 

The agitating teachers under the banner of “Bangladesh Swatantra Ebtedai Madrasa Shikkhak Samity” started the sit-in in front of Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka on January 1.

On January 7, they submitted a memorandum to State Minister Keramat Ali in favour of their demand.

According to the memorandum, teachers of the ebtedai madrasas and the registered primary schools started getting Tk 500 as allowances through a government circular in 1994.

Later in 2013, the government elevated the amount to Tk 1,000 of 6,776 teachers of 1,519 madrasas.

The government in 2016-17 fiscal year increased the salaries of headmasters to Tk 2,500 and assistant headmasters to Tk 2,300 from Tk 1,000. “The salaries and allowances of the primary teachers rose in phases. But the teachers of the ebtedai madrasas are still overlooked,” the memorandum said.