EBTEDAYEE MADRASSAH TEACHERS HUNGER STRIKE CALL OFF AFTER GETTING ASSURED BY THE GOVERNMENT

Ebtedayee madrassah teachers called off their Hunger strike on the eighth day on Tuesday after being assured from the government over their demand of nationalisation of all primary-level madrassahs under the Bangladesh madrassah education board.

The teachers ended their hunger strike around 2:15pm after technical and madrassah education division secretary Mohammad Alamgir informed them about the government’s sincerity over their demand.

‘the government is working on the issue,’ he said.

The secretary ended the strike by drinking them juice in front of the national press club in Dhaka where several hundred teachers on the roads and footpaths started the strike on January 9 amid the bitter cold.

He said education minister Nurul Islam Nahid and state minister for technical and madrassah education division Kazi Karamat Ali met finance minister AMA Muhith over the issue and he (Muhith) sought information related to madrassah.

‘we’ll send the information within two to three days,’ Mohammad Alamgir added.

Earlier, the teachers across the country under the platform, Bangladesh Swatantra Ebtedayee madrassah Shikkhak Samiti, observed a sit-in demonstration for eight consecutive days till January 8, to press forth their six-point demand, including nationalisation of Ebtedayee madrassahs.

‘we have called off the hunger strike as the government is sincere to our demand,’ said Qazi Rahul Amin Chowdhury, the organisation president.

On Sunday, the teachers rejected the call of the education minister to end their hunger strike, while the minister, along with Kazi Karamat Ali, met a 25-member team of the Ebtedayee teachers in capital.

The finance minister on Sunday ruled out the demand being pressed by madrassah teachers to nationalise all primary-level madrassahs in the country.