Public univ teachers to strike again today

Teachers of all 37 public universities will observe a daylong work stoppage today, demanding salaries with due dignity in the eighth national payscale or a separate wage structure.

"No classes will be held in any university but examinations will be outside of the programme," said Prof Dr ASM Maksud Kamal, secretary general of the Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers' Association (FBUTA), a platform of teachers of the 37 universities.

The teachers will also stage a sit-in on respective campuses from 11:00am to 1:00pm, he added.

Holding a press conference at 11:00am today at Dhaka University Club, they will respond to Finance Minister AMA Muhith's "misleading" comments about higher education institutions.

"Though the finance minister regretted his comments about the agitating teachers of public universities, he gave some misleading information about higher education institutions. We will speak up, as it needs interpretation," Prof Maksud Kamal told The Daily Star.

Muhith said on Thursday, "A universal payscale was declared in the face of teachers' movement in 1973. Since then the teachers had been receiving salaries and allowances under a unified payscale."

He also said the new pay structure had 20 grades and professors like in the past were given the same status as secretaries who under grade 1 would get a monthly salary of Tk 78,000.

He added, "The number of university teachers is higher in the upper ranks than in the lower ones."

Public university teachers say the new payscale has deprived and devalued them because it created two special positions for bureaucrats putting them two notches above the teachers. They demanded equal salaries, status, allowances, and benefits for senior secretaries and senior professors and for secretaries and professors.

"Due to abolition of the selection grade, the professors won't get promoted to grade 1 where the secretaries stand, and professors are now under grade 3," said Prof Maksud.

The cabinet approved on September 7 a new payscale for civil servants with a minimum basic salary of Tk 8,250 and a maximum of Tk 78,000 per month.