Academic shutdown in 37 public varsities from today
Teachers to abstain from work over
pay scale row
The teachers of the 37 public universities are scheduled to begin their collective work abstention from today as part of their ongoing eight-month-long movement demanding removal of salary and grade discrepancies in the Eighth National Pay Scale. This will affect over 2.4 lakh students at a time when they are already undergoing session jams for more than one year. Students have expressed mixed reactions over the ongoing movement by the teachers. Most of them said the teachers should take a different path to realise their demands, adding that the current decision will eventually tell on their academic career. Even the vice chancellors of different universities said such programmes will create more session jam due to suspension of classes and exams. However, the education minister declined to comment on the issue when journalists asked him about it after an orientation programme at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) in Sylhet yesterday. The Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers Association (FBUTA), in a press release, signed by its president Prof. Farid Uddin Ahmed and secretary general Prof. ASM Maksud Kamal, yesterday said they will go with the indefinite work abstention as scheduled. The work abstention will begin from Monday as per the previous announcement. Itll continue till our demands are met. Itll extend to the evening courses as well. However, it is up to each university to take a decision on holding exams, the release mentions. Considering the students situation, the Dhaka University Teachers Association has decided to hold only the final semester/course during the programme, but all other exams, including mid-term exams, will not be held. The government didnt call us till January 2. Its demeaning our movement. So, we cant step back from here, said FBUTA secretary general Prof. ASM Maksud Kamal. Jahangirnagar University Teachers Association president Prof. Khabir Uddin said, Weve been continuing our movement for eight months. But we havent received any concrete assurance from the government about the relegation of the public university teachers in the new pay scale. We gave time to the government. but it hasnt paid much attention to our call. We cant a step backwards now. Meritorious students will not prefer the profession of teaching if our demands are not met, he added.
