Teachers threaten shutdown of public universities

The Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers' Association (FBUTA) yesterday threatened a complete shutdown of all public universities across the country if the government did not deliver on its pledges of removing "discriminations" in the 8th national pay scale by December 31.

"We will hold a meeting on January 2 with teachers of all universities to decide on tougher programmes if our demands are not met by this month. There may be a complete shutdown," President of FBUTA Prof Farid Uddin Ahmed told a press conference at Dhaka University Teachers Club.

Meanwhile, Jahangirnagar University Teachers Association (Juta) announced to observe work stoppage from December 28 to January 2 over the same demand.

At the conference, ASM Maksud Kamal, general secretary of FBUTA, alleged that Finance Minister AMA Muhith had assured them of retaining selection grade and time scale for university teachers in the 8th pay scale, but he did not keep his words.

He demanded a fresh pay structure reinstating selection grade and time scale benefits, and giving salaries to a certain percentage of senior professors equal to that of senior secretaries.

Teachers of DU, JU and Chittagong University, in separate programmes, yesterday urged the finance minister to apologise for his Wednesday's comments that the demands of the university teachers were an outcome of their "ignorance".

Prof Farid Uddin said they got specific assurance from the minister but actually they were "deceived". He sought Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's intervention in the matter.

"We met the finance minister on December 6 and he promised to meet our demands. But we have actually been deceived by him. Now we are left with no choice but to wage stronger protests," he said.

The federation general secretary echoed him, saying Muhith should step down for the country's sake.

At Chittagong University, the teachers' association yesterday demanded amendments to the pay scale.

Teachers of Rajshahi University observed a daylong work abstention protesting the finance minister's comments, suspending all classes and examinations.

The public university teachers have been protesting the 8th pay scale since May, with a four-point charter of demands that includes the formation of a commission to initiate an independent pay scale for public university teachers.

The other demands are bringing parity in salaries and allowances between senior professors and senior secretaries, and between professors and secretaries; upgrading the status of teachers in the warrant of precedence; and entitlement to official cars and other allowances that bureaucrats enjoy.