In October last year, MPO-enlisted teachers across Bangladesh took to the streets demanding modest but long-overdue salary and allowance increases. Their demands included a house rent allowance of 20% of basic pay, a rise in the medical allowance from Tk500 to Tk1,500, and an increase in festival allowances from 50% to 75% of basic pay.
By 17 October, teachers added a broader demand: the nationalisation of all non-government educational institutions. The government’s response was brutal. Police batons replaced dialogue, and vague assurances replaced concrete commitments. Nearly 400,000 MPO-enlisted teachers returned home empty-handed, and assistant teachers in government primary schools saw no relief.
On 8 November, primary school assistant teachers staged a sit-in at the Central Shaheed Minar demanding promotion to the 10th grade, resolution of promotion anomalies, and 100% departmental promotion to head teacher. Police responded with batons, water cannons, rubber bullets, and sound grenades. Ebtedayi madrasa teachers met a similar fate when they attempted a march on 29 October; over 50 were injured by police dispersal.
The financial reality of Bangladesh’s teaching community is dire. Their salaries no longer guarantee a minimally dignified life amid soaring prices. Their demands are urgent and reasonable, supported by almost all major political parties. Yet the interim government remained unmoved, citing economic crisis and claiming only an elected government can act.
Contrast this with the government’s recent proposal to nearly double bureaucrats’ salaries, at an additional cost of Tk1.06 lakh crore. If the economy is fragile, why reward those already privileged while teachers and workers are met with force?
Workers, too, have struggled. From October 2023, garment workers staged repeated protests demanding higher wages, blocking highways in Savar, Ashulia, and Gazipur. These movements were met with violence: factories burned, vehicles vandalized, one worker reportedly shot dead, another killed in a fire. Their demands went unmet.
Government officials, however, occupy a comfortable position. Under the previous regime, bureaucratic salaries and benefits ballooned, including regular increments, special benefits of 5% and 10%, generous allowances, and easy-term car loans. Despite these privileges, they are now poised for more.
During the Awami League era, bureaucrats amassed wealth abroad, operated above accountability, and wielded more power than ministers. Reports revealed significant overseas assets, lavish lifestyles, and children sent abroad for education, far beyond their official salaries. Despite calls for reform after 5 August 2024, the current government has grown similarly dependent on bureaucrats.
While teachers and workers are beaten or ignored, bureaucrats are rewarded. Ordinary citizens will bear the cost through higher taxes, rising prices, inflation, and instability in the private sector. The next elected government will inherit an economic storm. But bureaucrats will be fine. They always are.
Whoever holds power, the real levers remain in bureaucratic hands. They simply adapt, align, and survive.
So the question remains: how long will this appeasement continue? How long will the government keep greasing an already greasy palm while teachers and workers suffer?
Audite Karim is a writer and playwright. Email: [email protected]
Bd-pratidin English/ Jisan
