A total of 829 public and private university teachers today in a joint statement said that authorities of private universities should use the institutions' reserve funds to pay salaries of their teachers and staff.

According to Private University Act 2010, it is mandatory for each private university to have a reserve fund. They can use that fund to bear expenses in times of crisis, said the statement signed by Kamrul Hassan, chief coordinator of Bangladesh Biswabidyalaya Shikkhak Forum, an association of public and private university teachers

Kamrul said that over 829 university teachers signed the joint statement and that many private universities are failing to pay its faculty and staff their salaries, whether fully or partially.

According to the statement, the association will urge the Education Ministry and The University Grants Commission to solve the issue by sitting with the boards of trustees of private universities as soon as possible. 

According to private university law, private universities in Dhaka and Chattogram must have a reserve fund of Tk 5 crore each, private universities in other metropolitan cities must have a reserve fund of Tk 3 crore each and universities established in other places have to keep Tk 1.5 crore in their reserve fund.

UGC Private University Division Director Fakhrul Islam said the universities cannot use the reserve fund without approval from UGC.

When queried on the matter, UGC Chairman Prof Kazi Shahidullah appealed to all private universities to pay salaries. "If they send us any proposal of using reserve fund to pay salaries and repay it later, we will sit and study their proposal to come up with a solution in this regard," he told The Daily Star.

In order to contain the spread of Covid-19, all educational institutions of the country have been closed since March 17. Earlier this month, the government extended the closure till May 16.

"We have noticed that many private universities are not paying due salaries to their teachers. This is inhuman and it is unprecedented too. You will not see another country in the world where university teachers are not being paid."

"Our private universities are behaving more like industries and this is not at all a sign of a healthy nation," Kamrul told The Daily Star.