The unlucky 777 teachers

Md Sumon Haider, a teacher for 10 years at the Rajshahi Polytechnic Institute, is now on hunger strike over arrears of 19 months worth of salaries and to make his job permanent.

Sumon is part of a larger group of teachers who have been on hunger strike since 8 February over similar demands.

"My age is now 37. I have no scope to get any other government or private job as I have passed my career as a teacher," Sumon said at the protest.

A total of 777 teachers, who were appointed under Skills Training and Enhancement Project (STEP) in 2012, face the same situation.

The teachers have been holding human chains and sit-in programmes at the central Shaheed Minar since February 1 under the banner of Amra Muktijoddhar Shontan.

"We have proved that we are qualified to continue teaching at polytechnic institutes. There is also a huge teachers' crisis here. We will be deprived if new teachers are appointed by terminating us," Sumon said.

Ahad Ali, another protestor, said, "We have dedicated 10 years to technical education. Now we are being pushed onto the streets. We are the most unlucky teachers in the world."

Sources at polytechnic institutes said as the institutes' need more teachers, the existing 777 teachers are qualified and can be tenured.

Md Mostafizur Rahman Khan, convener of the Principal Forum of government polytechnic institutes, told The Business Standard that the teachers had gained valuable teaching experience in the last 10 days and can be made permanent.

Contacted, Director General of the Department of Technical Education Dr Omar Faruk said they are trying to resolve the problem.

From July 2010 to June 2019, the government ran the Skills and Training Enhancement Project to improve the quality and skills of government polytechnic institutes teachers.

Under the scheme, the government employed 1,015 teachers in 52 government polytechnic institutes.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directed the education ministry to allow the teachers to continue teaching after the project ended.

The teachers were retained, but for the last 19 months they had not received any salaries from the government and the process to make their posts permanent has stopped.

Aman Ullah Khan Yousifji, president of the Bangladesh Polytechnic Teachers' Association, told The Business Standard that the matter was left to the government.

Contacted, Md Shamsur Rahman, general secretary of the Institute of Diploma Engineers Bangladesh, said the teachers' demand is logical and it was regrettable that they were on hunger strike instead of being in the classroom.

"I request the government to meet the teachers' demand as early as possible," he said, adding, "Government-run polytechnic institutes are also in a dismal state. The acute shortage of teachers badly hampers academic activities. As a result, thousands of students complete their courses without getting adequate knowledge and skills to survive in the job market. So, it will be a suicidal decision to oust the existing teachers."

The government plans to include 30% students in technical education by 2030. It will be impossible to achieve the target without adequate and skilled teachers, he added.

There are 52 public polytechnic institutes in the country, having 900 permanent teachers and 1,30,000 students. The teacher to student ratio is 1:144.