Public university teachers meet education minister

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid says he is hopeful about finding a solution to public university teachers’ demand over the new pay scale.

A delegation of the Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers' Associations (FBUTA) called on Nahid at his Minto Road residence on Saturday.

“A committee has been formed to look into the matter. It will come up with a solution very soon,” he told reporters after the meeting.

The Cabinet approved the Eighth National Pay Scale on Sep 7 with basic pay ranging between Tk 8,250 and Tk 78,000.

Selection grade professors of public universities enjoyed the top grade along with secretaries and major generals in the Seventh National Pay Scale.

Senior professors were included in grade-2 and professors in grade-3.

However, the eighth pay scale does not separately mention the status of selection grade professors.

Amid the protests, the government has formed a panel to give recommendations after studying the 'inconsistencies' and 'discrepancies'.

The Cabinet committee will be headed by Finance Minister AMA Muhith.

University teachers -- upset over Muhith's remarks, for which he later had to publicly apologise -- have asked for his removal from the panel.

During Saturday’s meeting between the teachers and Nahid the demand for Muhith’s removal was however not discussed.

“The matter of dropping the finance minister from the committee was not discussed,” said Nahid.

FBUTA President Farid Uddin Ahmed said that they would continue with their movement as well as discussions with the government until their demands were met.

He said the issue should be resolved immediately or else the universities’ admission process might be hampered.