Bangladesh News

National Front of Teachers and Employees (NFTE), who are on indefinite strike, will barricade roads and waterways in all districts today to force the government meet their demands.

NFTE’s blockade will however exclude the capital. Their demands include cent per cent basic salary from the government exchequer and elimination of discrimination in providing other facilities.

The NFTE, a platform of 11 teachers’ and employees’ organisations, will blockade road and waterways from 11:00am to noon. NFTE will also organise representatives’ meetings at educational institutions from tomorrow to August 5 as part of their month long agitation programme.

The leaders of NFTE will however sit for dialogue with government at 9:00pm today responding to the government’s invitation.

NFTE Chief Coordinator and Convenor Quazi Faruque said Deputy Information Minister

Abdus Salam Pintu asked him to join the dialogue over telephone.

“At an emergency meeting, we decided we would sit with the government. It will not affect our agitation programmes including the road and waterways blockade,” he said adding that their district committees have taken effective measures to enforce the blockade.

The government has started dialogue with agitating teachers’ organisations since Sunday but failed to reach any understanding regarding their main demand of cent per cent basic salary from the government coffers.

Four representatives of the government headed by Education Minister Osman Farruk sat for dialogues at the Prime Minister’s Office yesterday with the leaders of Bangladesh Shikkhak Karmachari Oikya Parishad led by MA Awal Siddiquee.

Dialogue with Shikkhak Karmachari Oikya Jote (SKOJ), led by Prof Shariful Islam, and Bangladesh Shikkhak Karmachari Samannay Parishad, led by Ashraful Islam, were also held on Sunday. The education minister said he would submit a recommendation report to the prime minister after discussing with all the factions of teachers on strike.

Sources in the education ministry said they are sitting with different teachers’ organisations separately as each platform has different agendas. They however said the teachers’ platforms had demanded a dialogue where representatives of all factions would be present.

Shikkhak Karmachari Oikya Jote, led by Shariful Islam, will hold a grand sit-in at Central Shaheed Minar on August 6 protesting the government’s delay in meeting their demands in the name of dialogues. They claimed no permanent solution to their problems has come out from the dialogue.