Univ teachers to meet PM today [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

Univ teachers to meet PM today

Local January 18, 2016

Leaders of public university teachers are scheduled for today to meet with prime minister Sheikh Hasina at Gana Bhaban to find a solution to the ongoing stalemate over their demands for review of the new pay scale.
Indefinite work abstentions by teachers that began on January 11 for removal of disparities from the new pay structure continued for the eighth consecutive day today, keeping academic activities at the public universities at a halt.
Two-hour work abstention by aggrieved officers and professional groups in the public services on the same ground affected day-to-day activities at the government establishments including hospitals and colleges.
‘The Prime Minister’s Office has invited us to discuss the matter at Gana Bhaban at 4:30pm tomorrow (Monday) and a delegation of 30 teachers will meet with the prime minister,’ Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers Associations secretary general ASM Maksud Kamal told New Age on Sunday.
He said that the federation leaders believed that the ongoing crisis would be solved soon as the prime minister called them to discuss their demands.
‘We don’t want to continue the work abstention further harming the students’ academic life…All teachers want to go back to classes,’ Maksud Kamal said.
He, however, said that they would continue the work abstention until their demands were met.
Indefinite work abstention by about 15,000 teachers already paralysed the 37 public universities of the country, while two-hour work abstention by government officials including doctors, engineers, agriculturists and government officials hampered treatment at public hospitals, academic activities at government colleges and day-to-day activities at other government establishments across the country for a week.
The weeklong protest by aggrieved government officers including engineers, doctors, agriculturists and members of 26 of the 28 cadres of Bangladesh Civil Service ended on Sunday.
Restoration of the timescales and the selection grades, which used to facilitate moving on to higher scales and grades of pay, is the common demand of all the protesting groups.
On Sunday, the federation leaders submitted a proposal to education secretary Sohrab Hossain for a quick solution to the crisis that led students to an uncertainty.
The public university teachers have been protesting against the 8th National Pay Scale since May 2015, pressing for four-point demands including a review of the new pay structure that has abolished the selection grades and the timescales.
Teachers of Dhaka University, Jagannath University, Jahangirnagar University, Rajshahi University, Chittagong University, Shahjalal Science and Technology University, Islamic University, Comilla University and other public universities across the country continued the indefinite strike for the seventh consecutive day on Sunday, New Age correspondents reported.
No classes were held for two hours in the 320 government colleges because of the work abstention by members of BCS education cadre.
All the groups feel aggrieved by the disparities created in the new pay structure that denied them of their existing benefits and choking their future opportunities and prospects.
They said that the timescales and the selection grades were the best safeguards for most of them enjoying limited or no opportunities of promotion.
‘We will continue the protest until our demands are met. The aggrieved officers as usual held protests inside their offices wearing black badges on Sunday,’ said the member-secretary of the steering committee formed by the four groups, Md Firoz Khan.
The steering committee representing officers from 26 BCS cadres and the professional groups on Sunday evening sat to decide the next course of action, a steering committee member said.
The steering committee meeting continued till 9:30pm, according to the official.
Removal of inter-cadre disparities is another important demand for cadre service officers who feel discriminated because of better opportunities offered to the administrative and the foreign service officials.
The work abstention by teachers was putting an adverse impact on about 15 lakh college students while 1.8 lakh public university students were kept off the classrooms for over a week because of the indefinite work abstention by the university teachers, said officials concerned.
The teachers of several universities, however, took scheduled semester final exams.
University teachers also demanded either a separate pay structure for them or the restoration of selection grades and timescales.
They also demanded pay, perks and status equal to that of ‘senior secretaries’ for a certain percentage of senior university teachers.
The professional groups and the BCS Coordination Committee began their protests under a common banner in October.
Their seven-point demands also include removal of cadre and non-cadre disparities.
Rajshahi University correspondent reported that the indefinite work abstention by the teachers caused serious concerns for the Rajshahi University students as classes and examinations at the university did not resume after the 14-day winter vacation that ended on Friday.
Mass communication and journalism department final year student Abu Jafor said that their final year exams were scheduled to begin on Sunday.