DHAKA, 27 June 2006 — A group of Bangladeshi schoolteachers has threatened to burn themselves to death unless the government agrees to their demand for a 70 percent wage hike, an official said yesterday.
“These community schoolteachers get only 750 taka ($10.70) a month without any benefits and they say that they will immolate themselves unless their demands are met immediately,” said Awal Talukder of the Bangladesh Primary Schoolteachers’ Association.
Primary schools and community schools, which cater for street children and other very poor children, have been closed across Bangladesh since June 17. Some of the teachers have also gone on hunger strike.
A section of the primary schoolteachers, who earn between 3,000 and 4,000 taka ($42 and 57) per month, yesterday agreed to call off their strike action after the government agreed to their demand for a 10 to 20 percent rise.
“Our demands were assured to be given by the government from next July. We will go back to school soon based on the government’s promise,” said the teachers’ association’s Habibur Rahman.
Other primary schoolteachers, like their community school colleagues, said they would be holding out for a better deal.
“They will not give up the strike just on this assurance,” added Talukder.
Three Handed Down Death Sentence
A court handed down death penalty to three brothers for the murder of a villager over a land dispute in Naogaon district four and a half years ago.
The Additional District and Sessions Judge Abu Ahmed Jamader handed down the death sentence to three brothers — Wazed Ali, Harunur Rashid and Mazed Ali.
The three farmers aged between 36 and 45 are married and have children.
The lawyer for the accused said charges were framed against his clients out of enmity.
The counsel said his clients would petition higher courts against the verdict.
Other accused in the case Mizanur Rahman and Abdur Rashid, were given life imprisonment. According to the prosecution, victim Nurul Islam was returning home on Feb. 11, 2002 when he was kidnapped by the accused and later murdered.
