Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader will hold a meeting with the leaders of the Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers Association (FBUTA) on Thursday as the public university teachers continue their strike against a new pension scheme introduced by the National Pension Authority.
FBUTA Secretary General and Dhaka University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) President Prof Nizamul Haque Bhuiyan confirmed the development on Wednesday, reports UNB.
He said Quader, also the Awami League General Secretary, spoke to them about holding a meeting on Thursday morning but the schedule has not been fixed yet.
Asked whether the movement will continue, he replied that they would not go back to work until their demands are met.
The indefinite strike of teachers protesting their inclusion in Prottoy pension scheme passed the third consecutive day on Wednesday, suspending all academic and administrative activities at universities across the country.
FBUTA called for the boycott of classes, examinations, and administrative work starting last Monday. DUTA also issued a notice to the university’s teachers.
As a result, all classes and exams, including regular, evening, professional, online, and offline programs, have been suspended at public universities nationwide. This includes institutions such as Dhaka University, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Chittagong University, Rajshahi University, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Jagannath University, Jahangirnagar University, and Khulna University.
In addition to academic activities, administrative offices, including chairman offices, hall provost offices, research centres, institutes, the central library, dean offices, computer labs, and seminar rooms, remain closed.
Under the banner of Officers-Employees Oikya Parishad, DU officers and employees have also called for a strike and protest programme, demanding the cancellation of what they called a “discriminatory” notification related to the Universal Pension Scheme. Employees and officers of other public universities have also joined the strike.
The Universal Pension Scheme, which was introduced on August 17, 2023, includes four schemes: Prabash, Pragati, Surokkha, and Samata. The Prottoy scheme was later introduced specifically for officers and employees of all autonomous and state-owned organisations.
