Following months of tension and protests, the cabinet committee on solving salary discrimination has recommended that 25% professors of public universities be given salaries and benefits of a first-grade public servant – equal to a secretary.
University teachers welcomed the move, saying it was the culmination of their year-long movement.
The decision came from a meeting of the cabinet committee, presided by Finance Minister AMA Muhith, at the Finance Ministry auditorium yesterday. Leaders from Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers Association (FBUTA) were present along with cabinet members and top bureaucrats.
“We have reached a consensus on resolving the dispute on promotion, post and amount of salaries for professors of public universities – which will applicable for 38 [public] universities,” said Muhith.
“The government will have to emphasize on the quality of education at public universities and our committee recommendations will go to the cabinet for approval,” the minister said.
Public university teachers had long been protesting the eighth pay scale, which removed the previous provisions that allowed professors to get first-grade salaries through the process of selection grade.
“A total 25% of second-grade public university professors will go to first grade when their job duration will be 20 years. Earlier they went to first grade in the process of selection grade,” Muhith said.
“We have fixed the criteria of promotion to the final stage for public universities teachers. A professor will get promotion from third grade to second grade if he or she has stayed for four years [in third grade] and published two new research papers in well-known journals.
“Second-grade professors should stay for two years in the same post for promotion to first grade on the basis of seniority,” the minister said.
Responding to the decision, FBUTA Secretary General Prof ASM Maksud Kamal said: “We will need a unified criteria of promotion for all public university teachers, which is going to be made by government authorities concerned.”
The achievement of getting first grade was the result of a year of movement on the status of public university teachers, Kamal said.
The FBUTA would submit its recommendations to the Education Ministry on the professors who would get first grade, he added.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, however, said his ministry would not make the final decision on the portion of professors to get first grade, but it would go to the prime minister and the cabinet for approval.
Meanwhile, FBUTA President Farid Uddin Ahmed said the cabinet secretary – in the meeting – mentioned of creating a super-grade post, similar to that of a senior secretary in administration, for public university teachers.
The association will now submit a proposal to the University Grants Commission to create a super-grade post for public university professors, Farid Uddin said.
“We have also demanded more funds for research and higher education for public university teachers. Only Tk50 lakh is allocated for Dhaka University for research and publication from a budget allocation of Tk400 crore,” he added.
The new pay scale for 2.1 million civil servants came into effect from July 1, 2015. Teachers’ salaries were two steps below that of the secretaries in the scale.
University teachers have long been alleging that the new pay scale ensures more facilities for the secretaries and government officials but less for teachers.
