Dhaka: Education Minister Says; teachers to continue movement over pension scheme.Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury yesterday said the current situation is not conducive to reopening educational institutions. He said this during a meeting with university teachers at the education ministry regarding pension issues, reports UNB.
When asked if there had been any discussion in the cabinet yesterday about reopening primary schools, he said, “I will not comment on this now. Discussions that take place in the cabinet are not meant to be discussed outside.”
Meanwhile, Nizamul Hoque Bhuiyan, secretary general of Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers Association (FBUTA), told this correspondent, “In the meeting, the participants came to an in-principle decision that teachers would be excluded from the Prottoy scheme.”
The summary of the discussion would be sent to the higher authorities, to make further decisions, he added.
“Until we see a final notification, our movement will continue.”
Prof Abdur Rahim, joint secretary general of the FBUTA, said, “We had a positive discussion with almost all stakeholders concerning our demands. The respective authorities did not deny the rationality of our demands.”
Chief of the standing committee of the education ministry, Nurul Islam Nahid, along with the finance ministry secretary and pension scheme authorities, also attended the meeting.
Earlier, on July 13, Obaidul Quader, the road transport and bridges minister, met with the teachers and said the implementation of the “Prottoy” pension scheme would take effect from July next year.
That time too, the teachers’ discussions with government representatives did not yield any result. The next day, they announced their decision to continue the protests.
Under the “Prottoy” pension scheme, 10 percent of an employee’s monthly basic salary, up to Tk 5,000, will be deducted and contributed to their pension fund. Additionally, there will be no one-time gratuity for retirees.
In contrast, under the current pension system, no money is deducted from the employee’s salary. It also provides a five percent annual pension increment and the option to encash earned leave. Teachers claim that their financial benefits would be reduced under the new system.
As such, teachers from over 35 public universities under the FBUTA have been abstaining from work, since July 1. They are also demanding the inclusion of professors in the “super grade” (equivalent to the pay grade of a senior secretary of a government organisation) and the establishment of a separate pay scale for public university teachers.
