-- Public university teachers observes daylong strike for seperate pay scale

-- Threatens to gear up movement after Eid

Teachers of 37 public universities today observed a daylong work abstention, demanding salaries with due dignity in the eighth national pay scale and a separate wage structure for them.

However, examinations remained out of purview of the protest programme.

Addressing the protest programme, Prof Farid Uddin Ahmed, president of the Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers' Association (FBUTA) said, "He [Muhith] has grown old. It is time for him to resign."

They also threatened to go for a tougher movement after Eid, if the government does not take a "realistic and constructive decision" to end the crisis.

"We will not stop the movement even if any cabinet member assures us. We want the prime minister's immediate intervention," Prof Dr ASM Maksud Kamal, secretary general of the Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers' Association (FBUTA) told The Daily Star today.

The FBUTA secretary general made the statement at a press conference at the Dhaka University Club this noon.

"We want to sit with the government to settle the issue immediately," he said.  

At the conference, the association's president said the finance minister has made the countrymen confused through his "misleading remarks" against the university teachers.

"We will observe the same programme at all public universities across the country on September 17 to realise the demand," Prof Farid said.     

However, examinations will remain out of the purview of the protest programme, he added.

On September 8, Muhith came down hard on the teachers of 37 public universities for their work abstention protesting "discrepancies" in the eighth national pay scale.

"Their [the teachers'] work abstention has no justification," he told reporters at the secretariat.

"I am extremely surprised that the most educated section [of our population] has gone for such a movement due to their lack of knowledge."

On Monday, the cabinet approved the new pay scale for civil servants with a minimum basic salary of Tk 8,250 and maximum of Tk 78,000 per month. The pay scale kept the grades as proposed in the draft.

Soon afterwards, the teachers announced the protest programme, saying they were expecting a separate pay structure.