Public univ teachers strike for third day

Teachers continued demonstrations and observed a three-hour work stoppage at public universities across the country yesterday demanding cancellation of the proposed eight national payscale and a new one for them.

It was the last three-hour strike after the Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers' Association (FBUTA) on August 11 had announced to observe it on every Sunday throughout the current month.

The teachers of 37 public universities went on strike yesterday, confirmed FBUTA secretary general Maksud Kamal.

They sought reformation of the proposed eighth payscale until implementation of the new one for them.

The demonstrators also demanded that the government equalise the salaries, benefits and status between university teachers and bureaucrats.

Equality should be brought between professors in selection grade and senior secretaries, and between professors and secretaries, they said, adding that the university teachers have to be included in the warrant of precedence.

The teachers have been conducting movements since May 14 rejecting the proposed payscale through different programmes, including signature campaigns, human chains, and press conferences.

They also submitted memorandums to the high officials of the government.

Dr Khandakar Shariful Islam, president of Bangladesh Agricultural University Teachers Association, told The Daily Star that a senior secretary would get a salary of Tk 84,000 as per the proposed payscale, while the professors in selection grade Tk 75,000, which is “discriminatory and disgraceful”.

Further programmes will be announced after a meeting of vice chancellors and university teachers on September 5 in the capital, said Maksud.

Meanwhile, students feared that they will have to face session jam and other academic crises because of the continuous movements.

“As our teachers' demands are logical, those should be met immediately,” said Motiur Rahman, first year student of the economics department of Chittagong University.

The academic activities will be severely hampered if the teachers will go on a non-stop strike, said Arif Rahman, second year student of the statistics department at Dhaka University.