M M Jasim :
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will sit for a meeting with the leaders of the Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers’ Association (FBUTA) today (Monday) in a move to resolve the pay disparity in the 8th National Pay Scale.
The meeting will be held in the Prime Minister’s residence Ganabhahan at 4:30pm.
Public university teachers have been observing indefinite strike against the discrimination for the last one week that may come to an end following the meeting with Prime Minister, the teachers’ leaders said. Acknowledging the matter, the FBUTA Secretary General Professor AFM Maksud Kamal told The New Nation on Sunday, “The Prime Minister has called us for talks on the issue and we believe that it will be a fruitful meeting.”
“We want a solution. We want to return to our classes. The Prime Minister loves and respects the teachers. So we think that the crisis will end today,” Professor Maksud Kamal said.
On January 11, the Prime Minister at a rally referring to agitating teachers said, dignity cannot be achieved by waging movement. “If you want dignity like that of a secretary, just resign and qualify the Public Service Commission examinations and then become a secretary,” she said.
Terming the movement “illogical”, the premier said, “We have raised the salary by 100 percent in the new pay scale, but you are yet to be satisfied with the increase.”
On Sunday afternoon, the FBUTA leaders submitted a proposal to the Education Secretary at the Secretariat in which they demanded restoration of all the facilities, including Grade 1-3, of 7th National Pay Scale and to give the status of senior secretary to some teachers of Grade-1.
FBUTA President Professor Farid Uddin Ahmed said, “We submitted a new proposal to the Education Ministry. We did our job. Now it is the ministry’s turn how to water the crisis.”
Asking about the meeting with Prime Minister, he said the PM is the highest authority of the government. We will take part in the meeting with her, he said.
“We have been continuing our movement for long. We never sounded for indefinite strike. But the government compelled us to opt for it,” he said. Professor Farid also said that the teachers know how to make up the losses suffered for strike.
“We did not take any class in any university across the country. We will request the teachers to take extra classes even on the vacation days so that no adverse impact can shade the light,” he said.
It may be mentioned that the public university teachers around the country have been protesting against the 8th National Pay Scale since May last year, pressing for a four-point charter of demands, including formation of a separate commission to initiate an independent pay scale for public university teachers.
