Movement of teachers and professionals

Public University teachers have launched strong protests for upholding their status that they believe was deliberately relegated through the publication of the gazette in connection with the new pay scale. They have started work stoppage. They are not taking classes. However, as they said, examinations are outside this movement. Bangladesh bank officials are also protesting against discrimination in pay scales. Professionals and BCS officers have also joined the movement. There is disappointment among govt college teachers, primary schools and private school teachers. The have also declared programmes for movement. Abolition of time scale and selection grade are the main reasons for discontent. The government has set up a high level task force to resolve the pay related crisis. Three months' time limit has been set for the purpose.
Teachers of public universities have started this movement after giving the government eight and half months' time. Their demands were not realised during this time. Teachers of 37 universities have jointly started this movement to restore their status. They are of the view that this crisis can be resolved easily through discussion. They were trying to meet the prime minister, but, so far, without success.
The task force set up by the govt have not yet contacted the teachers. The education minister has, however, talked to them but he is not concerned with financial matters. Under the circumstances if the situation lingers on, there is a strong chance of session jam in the public universities, and according to the protesting teachers, the government will be responsible for such eventuality. Although some students came to the campuses but no classes were held. They left the campuses after loitering for some time.
The demands of the teachers include restoration of time scale and selection grade and other benefits as per the 7th national pay scale, to include grade-I professors in the scale of the senior secretaries. Transport and other facilities will have to be provided to teachers.
In the 8th national pay scale, headmasters of primary schools were given grade 11. Their number is 37,000. But they have objection to this grade. They argue that they have to be given the status of second class gazetted officers in grade 10. It may be recalled that second class gazetted status was earlier announced by the prime minister herself for head masters of primary schools.
Assistant teachers of primary schools have been given the scale 3 steps below that of the head masters. They want the scale only one step below. Head masters of primary schools had a meeting with the additional secretary of the ministry of primary education. The assistant teachers submitted a memorandum after observing hunger strike at the Saheed Minar.
On the ground of discrimination in pay scale, 15,000 teachers of government colleges observed work stoppage on 4th and 5th of January. Alia madrasas, 16 technical institutes and all the education boards participated in the work stoppage. In the eighth pay scale, status of professors of education cadre got lowered. In all grades, officers from 5th grade are promoted to 3rd grade whereas in the education cadre associate professors in 5th grade are promoted to 4th grade. Half of these teachers get selection grade and are promoted to the 3rd grade. As a result, many Professors will retire from 4TH grade and will suffer financial losses. The protesting teachers have called for maintaining selection grade and time scale in the absence of alternative arrangement. These teachers will announce their programme on January 22.
There is another issue that has caused a lot of agitation among the school teachers.  A notification was issued on December 20 that said MPO designated teachers were conditionally included in the pay scale. This has created unrest among the teachers. They have called for cancellation of this notification. They want unconditional inclusion in the pay scale.
Bangladesh Shikkak Samity announced a programme of wearing black badges from January 12-14, work stoppage on January 16 and manabbandhan at upazila and national press club on January 18. For unconditional inclusion of teachers in the new pay scale, they will also submit a memorandum to the prime minister's office.
The government has been assuring the MPO teachers on various occasions that the new pay scale will address many of their problems. But the aforementioned notification has frustrated them.
The 8th pay scale has not fulfilled the expectations of the government. The government thought that higher pay and benefits will make the officials, teachers and other employees happy. But it appears that except the BCS (Admn) cadre, all others are not happy.
As things stand now, there is very little to hope that the problem - triggered by none but the government itself - is set to be resolved. The university teachers have already made it known that the problem can be resolved only with the intervention of the prime minister. Maybe they are correct. The PM has already passed a few remarks on the movement of the teachers and expressed her position, to the shock of the teachers.  
The writer is an economist
and columnist.