Teachers at public universities around the country are observing a work abstention for an indefinite period to press home their demand for a review of the new pay scale to include selection grade and resolve salary discrimination.
The teachers went on the indefinite work abstention and boycotted the classes in all 37 state-run universities since Monday morning.
The Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers’ Association (FBUTA) President Farid Uddin Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune: “Primarily we will be taking the ongoing semester examinations but once they are over, we will not take any other examinations.
“We will continue the protest till our demands are met.”
Earlier on January 5, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directed secretaries of the ministries concerned to examine the new pay scale’s “discriminatory provisions” involving different sections of professionals, including public university teachers, and take steps accordingly to resolve the dispute.
Reply to a query about being contacted by the government officials, he said: “No one has contacted us from the government side regarding the matter.”
However, he said Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid had a talk with them.
“Education Minister seems to be positive about our demands,” he added.
The teachers have been protesting the recently implemented Eighth National Pay Scale since May 2014, advocating their four-point charter of demand that includes formation of a commission to initiate an independent pay scale for public university teachers.
Their four-point demand also include the immediate revision of the national pay scale, keeping senior professors and senior secretaries of the government at an equal level of payment.
The teachers have been alleging that the new pay scale ensures more facilities for the secretaries and government officials but less for teachers.
The salary of the teachers in the new pay scale remains two steps below that of the secretaries, which is not only discriminatory but also humiliating for them, the teachers claim.
Last week, teachers observed sit-in programmes wearing black badges on their respective campuses every day from January 3 to January 7 and and observed work abstention from 11am to 1pm on January 7.