Education Ministry Calls Emergency Meeting on MPO-Listed Teachers’ Transfers

The Ministry of Education has called an emergency meeting to discuss the transfer of MPO-listed teachers working at private schools and colleges. The meeting is scheduled for 3pm on Wednesday, October 28.

A ministry source said on Tuesday, October 27, that the meeting would take place on the fourth floor of the International Mother Language Institute. Education Minister Dr ANM Ehsanul Haque Milon, Secondary and Higher Education Division Additional Secretary (additional charge of secretary) Dr Sardar Md Keramat Ali, Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) Director General Professor Dr Khan Moinuddin Al Mahmud Sohel, and Teletalk officials are expected to attend.

Speaking to The Daily Campus on condition of anonymity, a DSHE official said, “An emergency meeting has been called to discuss the teachers’ transfer issue. Technical matters will be discussed at the meeting. Teletalk has updated the software. The meeting will discuss whether the transfer results can now be published.”

Education Ministry Senior Secretary Abdul Khaleque is currently abroad. Asked why the meeting had been called despite his absence, the official said, “Intelligence reports have indicated that teachers are preparing to launch a movement over the publication of the transfer results. That is why the emergency meeting has been called. More details can be provided after tomorrow’s meeting.”

Meanwhile, teachers and employees of private educational institutions under the government’s Monthly Pay Order (MPO) scheme are preparing to launch a movement demanding transfers, the prompt implementation of the ninth pay scale and full festival allowances for the upcoming Eid.

They said the movement would begin with a sit-in programme on November 4.

Principal Delawar Hossain Azizi, member secretary of the MPO-listed Education Nationalisation Expectation Alliance, confirmed the plan to The Daily Campus on Monday.

He said nearly one and a half months had passed since applications for transfers were received, but the results had yet to be published. As a result, teachers working hundreds of kilometres from their homes were being forced to lead inhumane lives, he said, calling for the immediate publication of the transfer results.

Principal Azizi said government employees would receive salaries under the ninth pay scale from this month, while it remained uncertain when MPO-listed teachers and employees would receive salaries under the new scale. He called for an official directive to implement the pay scale for MPO-listed staff to end the uncertainty.

The teachers’ leader also said government employees received festival allowances equivalent to 100 per cent of their basic salaries, while MPO-listed teachers and employees did not enjoy the same benefit. He described the disparity as a major form of discrimination in employment.

Noting that MPO-listed employees were also excluded from several allowances, Azizi called for the introduction of full festival allowances to address the inequality. He said MPO-listed teachers and employees would hold the November 4 sit-in programme to press home their three demands.