The police dispersed a section of teachers of non-government primary schools on Wednesday using water cannon and charging batons on them in the capital as they tried to go to the chief adviser鈥檚 official residence Jamuna.聽
Three teachers were detained shortly, said police officials while the teachers鈥� leaders said that some of their fellows were injured during the incident.聽聽
The primary school teachers observed their sit-in in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka for the 25th consecutive day on Wednesday, demanding nationalisation of 4,159 non-government primary schools.
Teachers from over 2,000 non-government secondary schools, meanwhile, were also being obstructed by the police in the same area while trying to go to the chief adviser鈥檚 office, demanding monthly payment order facilities for them.
Under the banner of Bangladesh Non-Government Primary Teachers鈥� Association, teachers from different districts, including the three Chittagong Hill Tracts districts, have been observing the sit-in programme since February 16.
The association general secretary Md Firoz Uddin said that they were scheduled to submit a memorandum to the chief adviser with their demands.
At around 1:30pm they had started their marching from the press club area towards Jamuna, but a huge number of police stopped them before going further, he said.
Then the members of police were seen using water cannon on them.
Some teachers, including female ones, fell on the road and police were seen started charging batons on the male teachers.
Immediately, vehicular movement came to a halt in the area.
Later, the teachers again took position on the footpath in front of the club.
Firoz Uddin claimed that police arrested three teachers and over 100 teachers were injured.
Shahbagh thana officer-in-charge Khalid Mansoor said that they had detained three persons from the spot and later they were released.
He said that they had dispersed the teachers as it caused huge traffic gridlock and public sufferings.
As per the association leaders, in 2013 out of about 30,000 non-government primary schools, the government nationalised 26,193 schools having 1.04 lakh teachers while the rest of the schools were not nationalised due to political vengeance and bureaucratic complexities.
Following a pre-scheduled programme the Bangladesh Teachers鈥� Association, a platform of a section of the non-government teachers belonging to the MPO system, on Wednesday also started marching from the press club area to the chief adviser鈥檚 office, demanding MPO facilities for them.
Police obstructed them near the Kadam Fountain area.
The association president Mohammad Kawser Ali Sheikh said that after that they submitted the memorandum to the Dhaka divisional commissioner鈥檚 office demanding a 100 per cent festival allowance before the forthcoming Eid-ul-Fitr and nationalisation of the secondary education.
If their demands were not meet by Eid-ul-Fitr, they would wage a tougher movement afterwards, he added.
