General Secretary of Awami League and Minister of Roads, Transport and Bridges Obaidul Quader and Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Naufel will hold a meeting with the public university teachers who are agitating for the cancellation of Universal Pension Scheme (verification) on Thursday.
On Wednesday (July 3), Bangladesh University Teachers Association Federation Secretary General and Dhaka University Teachers Association President Professor Dr. Nizamul Haq Bhuiyan confirmed the matter to the media.
Meanwhile, for the third day in a row, all the public universities of the country, including Dhaka University, are closed for all academic activities, including classes and examinations.
Dr. Nizamul Haque said, first today (Wednesday) evening he (Obaidul Quader) gave a meeting time with us. But later he fixed it tomorrow morning.
When asked whether the sit-in program will continue after the announcement of the meeting, he said that the all-out movement will continue until our demands are met.
Meanwhile, among the public university teachers’ movement, the teachers rejected the explanation given by the Finance Ministry on Tuesday clarifying some issues of the universal pension scheme ‘Prayatya’ and said that their ongoing movement will continue.
The Finance Ministry, in a clarification on the Pratya Scheme, said on Tuesday that the scheme has been launched from July 1. All employees joining self-governed, autonomous and state-owned organizations on or after July 1 will be compulsorily covered under the Verity Scheme. Those who join before July 1 will get pension as per old rules. The National Pension Authority has also given a similar explanation.
In a message, the National Pension Authority said that teachers, officers and employees who joined the service before June 30 are not required to join the new scheme.
The Secretary General of Bangladesh University Teachers Association Federation and the President of Dhaka University (DU) Teachers Association Professor Dr. Nizamul Haque Bhuiyan told Jugantar on Tuesday night, We want individual pay scale.
We have three main demands – withdrawal of notification of confirmation scheme, inclusion of university teachers in super grade and introduction of separate pay scale for teachers.