Education minister Nurul Islam Nahid yesterday assured the teachers of non-government educational institutions of a 5 per cent increment on their basic salaries and other benefits to meet their demands.

He said the government was determined to provide monthly pay order (MPO) facilities to non-government educational institutions after a thorough field-level scrutiny.

The minister was speaking to reporters after holding a meeting with the leaders of different non-government educational institutions like schools, colleges, madrasas and technical institutions at the education ministry. He said he had a long chat with the teachers of non-government educational institutions on various issues including a 5 per cent annual increment on the basic salary, festival allowance, and Boishakhi allowance.

“We've assured the teachers of fulfilling their demands. We've already talked to the government in this regard. We would try our best. But everything depends on the finance ministry,” he added.

About the MPO facilities, Nahid said: “The government is determined to provide MPO facilities to non-government educational institutions. We’ve already received 9,498 applications online. The final decision will come up after the field-level scrutiny following the instruction of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.”

But the minister could not confirm how long it would take to provide such facilities. “The exact time cannot be said right now. Everything will be clear after the field-level scrutiny,” he said.

The minister also did not say how many educational institutions would get the MPO benefits.

Some teachers said after the meeting that they had a fruitful meeting with the minister, who promised to fulfil their various demands in consultation with the government. Mohammad Ali Chowdhury, secretary of the Bangladesh Technical College Teachers’ Association, said they placed several demands before the minister.

“We want a 5 per cent annual increment against out salary. The festival allowances should be 50 per cent from the existing 25 per cent and the government should start the Boishakhi allowance, full house rent and medical allowances for MPO teachers,” he added.

The teachers also demanded full pension for all teachers and employees of non-government educational institutions instead of financial benefits through the Non Government Teacher Employee Retirement Benefit Board and the Teachers’ Welfare Trust.

Mohammad Ali Chowdhury said government teachers were recruited to education-related offices, but other teachers were deprived of such opportunities as the scope for them remained restricted to the Retirement Benefit Board and the Welfare Trust.

 “We’ve demanded that 35 per cent non-government teachers should be recruited on deputation to education-related offices,” he added.

The teachers also demanded the inclusion of the teachers, employees and educational institutions under MPO facilities as per rules. They also wanted the abolition of the ‘proportion ratio’ for promotion of the teachers in the non-government educational institutions.