In just over two weeks after the enactment of a new pay scale for public servants, the dispute between two ministries centring university teachers’ status has come to the fore.
During the weekly meeting of the cabinet yesterday morning, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid accused the Finance Ministry of deliberately discriminating against public university teachers.
In the last (7th) pay scale, public university teachers and government secretaries both belonged to the top grade. But in the 8th pay scale, teachers were placed one rank below.
Two days ago, public university teachers announced that they would go for an indefinite strike from January 11 unless the government reviewed the pay structure.
Finance Ministry press release
Yesterday evening, Finance Ministry issued a press release, which is also its first official statement since the publication of the 8th pay scale gazette.
The release, singed by Finance Division Joint Secretary Md Jamal Uddin, explains why professors do not deserve the top pay grade.
Against a total of 65,308 first class government officials, only 122 secretaries got the top grade. On the other hand, out of a total of 11,411 university teachers, as many as 820 are professors.
It takes a government official up to 30 years to become eligible for the top pay grade while a university teacher can become a professor after just 12 years in job, the release says.
The press release also points out that secretaries have to work longer than professors and do not have the privilege of working part-time.
Professors’ reaction
When contacted, Prof Md Khabir Uddin from Jahangirnagar University, said: “It is not true that public university teachers earn more than secretaries ... Joint secretaries and secretaries get Tk40,000 just for vehicle maintenance. This is equal to many teachers’ salary.”
Prof Khabir, who is a member of the Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers’ Associations, also said that only 5% teachers work part-time at private universities.
“I know a government secretary who teaches in private universities without official permission from the authorities concerned,” Prof Khabir said.
Cabinet meeting
During the cabinet meeting yesterday, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed raised the issue for discussion, sources said.
When the PM asked about this, Nahid said the new pay scale does not reflect the recommendations of the cabinet committee on solving salary discrimination.
The committee recommended forming a body to lay out a policy for deciding which professors should come under grade 1, instead of placing all of them under the top grade. The committee also said this policy could be implemented by the University Grants Commission.
Nahid also said that they were surprised to see that the new pay scale did not include the school and college teachers who are enlisted under the government’s MPO (Monthly Pay Order) scheme.
The second meeting
Later PM Sheikh Hasina called another meeting with senior officials of the Finance Ministry including Secretary Mahbub Ahmed.
A source quoted the PM as saying in the second meeting that it was not true that the government did not respect the public university teachers.
According to the source, regarding the difference between professors and secretaries, she also pointed out that public university teachers can work part-time in private universities but the secretaries are not allowed to do anything else.
She also reportedly point out that university teachers can work until the age of 65 but the retirement age of government officials is 59.
During the meeting, Finance Ministry officials said that they had asked for a proposal from the Education Ministry regarding how the problem regarding professors’ salaries could be solved and a list of the MPO-enlisted educational institutions.
But the Education Ministry has never sent that proposal or the list, finance officials told the prime minister, sources said.
