There is no legal or policy bar on teachers and employees of private educational institutions taking part in local government elections, Mir Shahe Alam, state minister for local government, rural development and cooperatives, has said.
He said that as long as private educational institutions are not fully nationalised, there is nothing to stop teachers from taking part in local government elections.
He was speaking as a special guest on Thursday morning at a conference organised by the Shikkhak-Karmachari Oikya Jote at the Institution of Engineers auditorium in Ramna, Dhaka.
On the debate over teachers’ participation in local government elections, Mir Shahe Alam said there was no legal or policy bar on it until private educational institutions were fully nationalised.
Expressing solidarity with the demand of private teachers and employees for nationalisation, the state minister said that in the interest of teachers’ status and living standards, the nationalisation of teachers and employees of private institutions would happen, today or tomorrow.
He said that whenever teachers’ pay and allowances, pensions and standing had been raised in Bangladesh’s history, it had been at the hands of Shaheed Zia and Begum Khaleda Zia. In that tradition, he hoped, the demand for nationalisation could be met at the hands of the present prime minister, Tarique Rahman.
Advising teachers to take up programmes on a large scale to press the demand, he said nationalisation would need an additional Tk 700 crore to Tk 800 crore a year. If teachers held a disciplined, large national rally and put their demand to the prime minister in a humane and democratic way, the present government would certainly appreciate its importance, he said.
The state minister also spoke of a new initiative to use renewable energy in educational institutions. He said the education ministry would give every institution a grant so that solar panels with a capacity of 5.5 kilowatts could be installed on its roof. Besides ensuring uninterrupted electricity, institutions would be able to earn Tk 5,000 to Tk 10,000 a month by selling to the national grid the power generated on holidays and in off hours, he said.
He said the use of renewable energy would meet institutions’ electricity needs on the one hand and give them a chance of extra income on the other.
On teachers’ social standing, he said: “Teaching is the one profession that gives birth to every other profession in the world. You are the main driving force of society and the messengers of democracy.”
He called on everyone to resist together any propaganda that undermines the standing of teachers in society and the state.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report