No sign of solution

Public university teachers observed work stoppage for the fourth consecutive day yesterday protesting against “disparity in the new pay scale” but no solution is in sight yet.   

Though teachers' leaders and the education minister repeatedly assured that the problem would soon be solved, neither side could say how.

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The crisis, meanwhile, paralysed the country's higher education sector.

Almost all the public universities have completed this year's admission procedure but classes are yet to begin.

Like the previous days, teachers under the banner of Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers Association observed their strike yesterday, refraining from giving classes, including those of evening courses.

They called on the government to take prompt measures for ending the stalemate.

Teachers of all 37 public universities have been protesting the eighth pay scale since May last year and pressing for a four-point charter of demands, including formation of a commission to initiate an independent pay scale for them.

Prof Farid Uddin Ahmed, president of the teachers association, said, "Teachers all over the country are observing the work stoppage spontaneously, but we want to go back to our classrooms soon after a fruitful solution."

Asked whether students would be caught in session jam, he said, "This [strike] might cause a session jam and hamper students' academic lives, but we know better how to do away with session jams. That is why we urge the government to take prompt measures."

Like on previous occasions, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid yesterday said the government was working to come up with an acceptable solution.

The problem that arose after the dissolution of selection grade and time scale can be solved through talks, he said at a launching ceremony of teachers training manual at the National Academy for Educational Management (NAEM) in the capital.

"The government is sincere to uphold teachers' dignity," he added.

However, students who are bearing the brunt of the crisis want an immediate solution.

"Otherwise, our academic lives will be hampered," said Arifur Rahman, a third year student of Dhaka University.

Anik Rahman, a fresher at DU, said he was upset with the ongoing strike. "We could attend only one class so far. We want our classes to resume soon."

Other demands of the teachers include parity between salaries and allowances of senior professors and senior secretaries, and those of professors and secretaries; and upgrading of teachers' status in order of precedence.