Teachers threaten to strike down public universities in Bangladesh from Nov 1

Bangladesh’s public university teachers have threatened to go on an indefinite strike from Nov 1 if the government does not concede their demands for a separate pay scale by Oct 30.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 6 Oct 2015, 05:27 PM
Updated : 6 Oct 2015, 05:28 PM

The Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers Associations (FBUTA) ignored Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid’s call to refrain from programmes that would upset studies.

FBUTA Secretary General ASM Maksud Kamal said they decided on their programme on Tuesday morning and informed Nahid of it at the meeting.

“We hope our demands will be met by then (Oct 30),” he said. “Or else, we’ll be forced to go ahead with non-stop programme.”

Public university teachers have been demonstrating for several months now for a separate pay scale.

Their agitation picked pace after the eighth pay scale put selection-grade professors and senior professors in grade-1 with secretaries and created a special grade for senior secretaries.

Selection-grade professors enjoyed the top grade with secretaries in the previous pay scale.

Disgruntled teachers say they have been put below the bureaucrats in the new scale.

A government-sanctioned committee is looking into ‘discrepancies’ in the pay scale.

Nahid said the demonstrators “assured” him after he requested them repeatedly not to disrupt admission tests and classes.

But FBUTA’s Kamal, replying to a question, said: “There might be examinations and admission tests in November but we can’t do anything about them.

“I hope our demands are met by then and we won’t need to abstain from work.”

Nahid hoped the matter would be resolved once the finance minister returned home.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday hit out at them, saying they should not draw their hiked salaries until their demonstration ended.

“I think we have given too much… We should have given them a little less,” she quipped, noting that the salaries had been raised by 91 percent.