Nahid hints at meeting on salary row

Following public university teachers' threat to close their institutions, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid yesterday hinted the cabinet committee on removing salary discrimination will soon sit to discuss their demands.

“I've talked to the finance minister and will again speak to him today [yesterday] to fix the date and time for the committee's meeting on teachers' demands,” he told reporters, replying to a query at his secretariat office.

“In the meeting, we'll talk about how to solve the problems.”

Nahid's comments came two days after the federation of public university teachers threatened a complete shutdown of their institutions if their demands on the new pay scale are not met by this month.

Asked about the teachers' threat, the minister said he would continue his efforts to solve the ongoing problem.

“We have been and will always be with the lawful demands of the teachers as they are our main driving force.

"We want that the teachers get the highest facilities and benefits," Nahid said.

Teachers of all 37 public universities under the banner of Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers Association have been staging protests over the 8th pay scale since May, saying their status is downgraded in the pay scale.

They said the selection grade professors enjoyed the top grade along with secretaries and major generals in the Seventh National Pay Scale. Senior professors were placed in Grade-2 and professors in Grade-3.

The new pay scale retained the grades of professors and senior professors but did not separately mention the selection-grade professors, which has become one of the issues of the agitation.

The demands include bringing parity in salaries and allowances between senior professors and senior secretaries, and between professors and secretaries; upgrading the status of teachers in the warrant of precedence; and entitlement to official cars and other allowances that bureaucrats enjoy.

Separate pay scale for the university teachers is another demand they have voiced.