Teachers and employees of MPO-listed educational institutions have issued an ultimatum to have their three-point demand met by 11am on Wednesday, threatening to go on a hunger strike following a march to the chief adviser’s official residence.

The announcement came from Delwar Hossain Azizi, member secretary of the MPO-listed Education Nationalisation Expectant Alliance, on Tuesday afternoon after police halted their planned “Long March” to the Secretariat near the High Court area.

“We will remain here (in front of the High Court intersection) until 11am tomorrow (Wednesday). If our demands are ignored, we will block the Shahbagh intersection. If still unmet, we will go to Jamuna (official residence of the chief adviser), and if necessary, stage a hunger strike until death,” Azizi declared.

Their demands are: hiking the house rent allowance to 20% of the basic salary, increasing the medical allowance to Tk1,500 for both teachers and employees, and raising the festival allowance for non-teaching staff to 75%.

They began their programme from the Central Shaheed Minar after 4pm as there was no step to meet their demands.

However, police obstructed the teachers and employees when they reached the High Court intersection around 4:30pm.

On Sunday, the MPO-listed teachers and staff demonstrated in front of the Jatiya Press Club, when police used sound grenades, water cannons, and batons to disperse the crowd.

Later, they moved to the Shaheed Minar and observed work abstention across the country for the second consecutive day on Monday.

Various individuals and organisations have expressed solidarity with their movement. They include Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, NCP, Khelafat Majlish, Inqilab Mancha, Nagorik Oikya, Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU), AB Party, and Dhaka University’s white panel teachers.