Bangladesh ICT Teachers Continue Strike Demanding Job Security and Agency System Reform

The ICT contractual computer teachers'strike, which began on Monday in front of Bikash Bhaban in protest against job uncertainty, continued on Tuesday. The teachers sat on a night-long sit-in. They say the movement will continue until a government notification is issued on their demands. As many as 3,719 teachers of ICT Oikya Mancha's 6th and 7th phases are working through agencies. Their current contract expires on September 30. The current agency has also sent termination letters to the teachers informing them that the contract will not be renewed. There is confusion whether the existing teachers will continue their jobs after the tender for the new agency is floated. The teachers demand that the agency system be scrapped and they be given the status of direct government contractual employees. They say that teachers up to the fifth phase have been working as government contractual employees, while those in the sixth and seventh phases have been under the agencies for about five years. They have also demanded that they be given jobs till the age of 60.