Madrasa teachers’ hunger strike enters day 2
Madrasa teachers of ebtedai level are continuing their hunger strike for the second consecutive day.
Over a hundred madrasa teachers are continuing demonstration near Jatiya Press Club over demands that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would nationalise the madrasas.
“Bangladesh Swatantra Ebtedai Madrasa Shikkhak Samity” started the hunger strike yesterday. Before the strike, they staged a sit-in for eight days since January 1.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Qazi Ruhul Amin Chowdhury, president of the organisation, told The Daily Star yesterday that around 18,000 madrasas, regarded as independent ebtedai madrasas for not being affiliated with any Dakhil madrasas, had been registered under the Madrasa Education Board in 1984.
Over the years, the number came down to around 10,000 as the government did not give any salary to the teachers, he said.
Around 48,000 teachers of these madrasas teach students from class-I to class-V. In 1994, some 6,776 teachers of 1,519 madrasas and registered primary schools started getting Tk 500 as allowances for each teacher through a government circular.
Later in 2013, the government elevated the amount of those teachers to Tk 1,000. In 2016-17 fiscal year, the government increased the allowances of headteachers to Tk 2,500 and assistant headteachers to Tk 2,300 from Tk 1,000.
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