New Age | Strike by teachers at state universities against the Prattay Scheme enters fifth day

Academic and administrative operations at Bangladesh’s public universities continued to come to a standstill on Sunday as teachers’ indefinite strike against the Prattay pension scheme entered its fifth consecutive day.

Nizamul Haque Bhuiyan, general secretary of the University Teachers Association Federation and president of the Dhaka University Teachers Association, stressed their commitment to the protest.

The teachers will continue their movement until their demands are met, he told UNB correspondent at Dhaka University.

Nizamul Haque Bhuiyan criticised the general pension system and called it discriminatory.

This pension system makes work easier for some people while depriving others of it. It is an insult to the dignity of teachers and forces them to seriously reconsider their financial future, he said.

New Age Rajshahi correspondent reported that teachers, officials and employees of Rajshahi University and Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology continued to refuse to work on Sunday, boycotting academic activities including classes and examinations and demanding the cancellation of the Prattay scheme.

They also conducted one-hour sit-in programmes on their respective campuses to press their demands.

Due to the teachers’ strike, neither classes nor exams took place on Sunday, university representatives confirmed.

However, the administrative work of the universities is only carried out to a limited extent, it was said.

A meeting scheduled for last Thursday between Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader and the leadership of the University Teachers Association Federation was cancelled.

Quader, who is also minister for road transport and bridges, said on Sunday that the government was closely monitoring the teachers’ movement and expressed hope for a speedy resolution. He made the remarks to reporters at the Secretariat in Dhaka.

The indefinite strike of university teachers began on July 1.