Teachers of all public universities across the country observed work abstention yesterday, demanding a separate pay scale for university teachers and protesting what they claimed were discriminatory and biased proposals under the new pay scale.
The work abstention at Dhaka University was observed between 10am and 1pm, during which teachers gathered at the DU Teachers Club and initiated a mass signature campaign to press home their demands.
“We will submit the signatures to the ministry concerned to press our demands,” said Maksud Kamal, general secretary of Dhaka University Teachers Association.
Threatening tougher programmes unless their demands were met, the DU teachers also said they would boycott classes for three hours every Sunday during August; exams, however, would stay out of the purview of the boycotts.
Teachers at Jahangirnagar University, meanwhile, staged a one-hour work abstention from 10am as well as holding demonstrations on the campus.
Teachers from different departments and institutes of the university joined a programme organised by JU Teachers Association in front of the new arts faculty building and also initiated a mass signature campaign.
Agitated teachers said the implementation of the new pay scale – as it currently stands – would diminish their rights and would be humiliating for the teaching community. They further pointed out that many neighbouring countries also have separate pay scales for their university teachers.
A similar three-hour work abstention was also organised by Chittagong University Teachers Association between 10am and 1pm. No classes were held, but the examinations went on ahead as scheduled.
As part of their demonstrations, CU teachers staged a sit-in programme and held a mass signature campaign on the campus.
Professor Khasrul Alam Quddusi, general secretary of CUTA, said CU teachers would continue to observe work abstentions every Sunday during August as per a decision by the Bangladesh University Teachers Association Federation.
Teachers of Rajshahi University and Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (Ruet) also staged a sit-in and observed a three-hour work abstention.
More than 500 teachers under the banner of Rajshahi University Teachers Association staged a sit-in in front of the university senate building to press home their demands.
Addressing the programme, RUTA President Ananda Kumar Saha alleged that all public university teachers have been disgraced by the proposed eighth pay scale.
He also called for retaining time scale and selection grades, as their exclusion would be a disgrace to the dignity of university professors.
Around 500 Ruet teachers also showed up at a separate sit-in on their respective campus. Speaking there, Ruet Teachers Association President Prof Dr Tarik Ahmed said public university teachers had to survive on a low salary whereas developing countries like India and Pakistan had separate pay scales for the university teachers.
Elsewhere at the Khulna University, teachers observed work abstention for three hours, as well as staging a sit-in and a mass signing campaign on the campus.
Vice-chancellor of the university, Prof Dr Mohammad Fayek Uzzaman, expressed his solidarity with the demonstrating teachers.
Addressing the teachers, the VC expressed hopes that the prime minister would take into her consideration the sensitive issue on which the teachers’ respectability relies.
