Teachers in Rajshahi have staged a sit-in to demand payment of arrears of 18 months salary. A human chain was organized by the teachers of Rajshahi Polytechnic Institute and Rajshahi Women’s Polytechnic Institute.

The human chain was organized on Tuesday (January 18) morning at the Shaheed Minar premises of Rajshahi Polytechnic Institute.

Teachers in the human chain said the government has set a target of improving the country’s technical education rate by 20 per cent by 2020, 30 per cent by 2030 and 40 per cent by 2041. In order to expand and improve the quality of technical education, 1015 teachers were recruited in 2012 and 2014 through the step project in compliance with the complete employment regulations under the Technical and Madrasa Education Department of the Ministry of Education. Of these, 6 teachers are currently working.

They also said that at the end of the project period, the government has made arrangements for the salary allocation of teachers from the government’s bulk allocation sector for the financial year 2019-2020. Since then, no salary allowance has been provided from July 2020 to December 2021. So for these 18 months the teachers have been living with great difficulty. The teachers requested the government to pay the teachers’ salaries without delay.

Ahmed Hossain, President of Bangladesh Polytechnic Teachers Federation presided over the function. Also present were: Mohammad Salahuddin of Bangladesh Polytechnic Teachers Federation (BPTF), Sumon Haider, President of Central Committee (Technical Branch)