The teachers of the secondary-level schools under the monthly pay order system on Sunday besieged the Shikkha Bhaban for an hour demanding nationalisation of their jobs, pay hike and arrears before the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.

They withdrew their pre-scheduled besiege programme after the officials of Directorate General of Secondary Education assured them to start giving salaries to 5.5 lakh teachers who did not get salaries for the month of April.

After that they took position in front of the National Press Club.

Shikkha Bhaban is the office of Directorate General of Secondary Education under the education ministry.

Under the banner of the Unity Council of Teachers and Employees, they besieged the Shikkha Bhaban from 11:30am to 12:30pm on Sunday.

At about 12:30pm some representatives of the council went to meet with the directorate’s director general professor Muhammad Azad Khan in a closed-door meeting.

After the meeting, Unity Council of Teachers and Employees chairman and Bangladesh Teachers’ Association president Mohammad Kawser Ali Sheikh said that the director general assured them that from Monday the ministry would start giving salaries to 5.5 lakh teachers who did not get their salaries for the month of April.

‘Now we are sitting in front of the press club with our main demands of nationalisation of our jobs and a rise in our festival and medical allowances and house rent before the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha,’ he added.

Earlier on March 5, the then adviser for the education ministry Wahiduudin Mahmud announced an increase in the festival, medical and recreation allowances and house rent of the teachers from this Eid-ul-Azha and a fund was also created to provide them with retirement benefits.

His announcement came after teachers under the MPO system staged a strike for 22 days. Following the announcement they on March 6 postponed their strike till the next Eid-ul-Azha.