Boycotting classes, at a time when public universities have struggled through an immense session jam and only just returned to the soothing academic calendar, is perhaps the worst decision by our respected teachers protesting the current move of the government to reinforce the new Universal Pension Scheme (UPS).
I am from a teacher's family. My father had been in the teaching profession for 47 years while he still had physical capacity of conducting a class. Three of our five brothers are teachers -- two of them work at universities, while the other was the headmaster of a local school.
So I know the struggle that our teachers have to face just to maintain a decent livelihood, given the fact that they are the most meritorious segment of the entire population. My youngest brother is a professor now in a public university who holds the position of the head of the department and dean of the business faculty. I found him quite shocked following such an important decision taken by the government without prior discussion with the teacher's community.
The current agitation and boycotting of classes, which we discussed this morning, has a deeper root of conspiracy against our entire education system. Many nations, who seem like our friends, do not want to see our genius boys graduate from our public universities, serving not only our nation but also holding leading positions at the global level of various capacities.
The government has to face immense pressure and criticism for politicizing educational institutions across all levels and patronizing the teachers, especially the public universities where the pro-government teachers lead the university teachers’ association. Such a powerful platform of teachers, in our national intellectual centre, are now dominated by the pro-government teacher leaders. But why do teachers have to choose the wrong path by boycotting the classes when the worst impact of such boycott has to be refurbished by themselves alone -- no one else will come to help to take extra classes to finish the syllabus in time and help the students get ready for the examination.
Most importantly the students who have just started their classes after the Eid-ul-Adha vacation will be demotivated and those awaiting the examinations will fall prey -- many of them might be derailed and get involved with unhealthy practices that will end up with unexpected circumstances, and many of them will fail to appear in the upcoming civil services examination. No teacher has the right to play games with the future of the students.
UPS, as it was conceptualized at the formulation stages, has changed the characteristics of "universality" undermining the spirit of our constitution that no discrimination can be made while enacting any policy and creating facilities for the citizens. Rather it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that state facilities should be made equitable to all citizens. The government's attempt to create opportunity for a segment of cadres serving the nation and provisioning unequal treatment to another segment, who are perhaps even more important for building the nation's future, also does not conform to the spirit of the global goals of "leaving no one behind."
Sudden changes in the pension scheme has created frustration among teachers of the public universities whose contribution to the nation is immense in shaping public confidence in the government. An initiative that was initially applauded by all concerned but has suddenly taken a U-turn leaving the most important stakeholders frustrated, should not be welcomed.
The government's decision leads towards a system in which the employee contributes to the pension funds, but such an initiative should be well managed so that the plan does not turn into a losing concern. Government spending on pension and gratuities was Tk 4,395 crore in fiscal year 2009-10, which was only 4.3% of the budget. But the proposed budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year has allocated Tk 36,902 crore, which is 4.63% of the total budget. This is a positive sign but there should be no discrimination and division in the pension of public servants.
Under the new scheme, new teachers and staffers of public universities would enjoy fewer benefits than they would have under the current one, which may discourage the brightest students from choosing teaching as a profession. Experts raised doubt about ill motivation behind such discriminatory policy initiatives by the government where teachers were being downgraded from other government officials, which is just unacceptable.
The government's assumption of not being able to bear the growing pension costs is just unacceptable given the fact a huge amount of state money is being misused by business tycoons in an illegal and unplanned way where the government is not taking any effective exemplary actions. But in the case of teachers, who are engaged in building nation's driving forces, such lame excuse of financial incapacity does not reflect the far-sightedness of the government.
UPS was mainly aimed at bringing the growing elderly population of the country under a well-organized social safety net and providing them with a monthly stipend to support their daily expenses. I was seriously listening to the arguments made by the General Secretary of Dhaka University Teachers Association, Dr Zeenat Huda who is the Professor and Chairperson of the department of sociology. I found it very logical when she was appealing to the government to review the decision -- otherwise in future, talented individuals will not be attracted to teach in the universities. Such a policy decision will have a longer impact and will not be conducive to realizing the nation's dream of becoming "Smart Bangladesh" by 2040.
However, the decision taken by the Federation of the Bangladesh University Teacher's Association to boycott classes should be withdrawn at the earliest possible time and classes must be resumed so that students do not suffer anymore. Boycotting of classes as the symbol of agitation by the teachers does not conform to their commitment to bringing the government's agenda forward fulfilling the nation's desire to become a developed country by 2024.
On the contrary, the current agitation by the teachers which has been echoed by the recent student movement for assuring the quota system might sabotage the integrity of the government actions delaying the development process. The movement of boycotting classes might fuel the agitation of the university students and turmoil may become worse at any point in time that may not remain within the control of the teacher's leadership. Teachers should find a peaceful passage to raise their voices to the government and engage in dialogue and before that they should immediately resume classes and bring the students into the classroom. But the teachers should find an alternative way other than boycotting classes.
Sadrul Hasan Mazumder is a policy and development activist and can be reached at [email protected].
