The Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers Association on Sunday declared to boycott academic and administrative duties for an indefinite period to realise their demand to withdraw the Prottoy Scheme under the Universal Pension Scheme, branding it illogical and discriminatory.
They also demanded placing teachers in super grade and introduction of a separate salary structure for teachers.
The Federation announced the protest at a press briefing held at Dhaka University (DU) Arts Faculty on Sunday.
Federation President Prof Md Akhtarul Islam presided over the press conference while Secretary General and also the DU Teachers Association (DUTA) President Prof Md Nizamul Haque Bhuiyan read out a written statement.
Meanwhile, Dhaka University Teachers Association (DUTA) decided to boycott DU Day celebrations today.
Protesting the Prottoy Scheme, public university teachers in the meantime observed day-long work abstention on Sunday.
Earlier, they observed half-day work stoppage from June 25 to 27.
So far examinations were exempted from the purview of the protests.
However, the Federation yesterday announced that from July 1 teachers will boycott all official duties, classes, examinations, admission tests and selection boards.
All libraries, offices and laboratories will remain closed, said the protesters.
They said meetings of Academic Committee, Coordination and Development Committee, Question Paper Coordination Committee will not be held until the government scraps the Prottoy Scheme.
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) Teachers Association President Prof Md Mizanur Rahman, Jahangirnagar University (JU) Teachers Association President Prof Md Motaher Hossain and Jagannath University (JnU) Teachers Association Acting President Prof Md Momin Uddin spoke in the press conference.
Prof Akhter suspected introduction of the Prottoy Scheme was a conspiracy against the education system of the country.
He demanded declaration of the names of individuals of the Finance Ministry who particularly were involved in introducing the Prottoy Scheme.
He challenged the involved individuals to hold an open debate on the merits and demerits of the Prottoy Scheme.
Prof Nizam said if the Prottoy Scheme is implemented, meritorious students will be discouraged to pursue the teaching profession.
"Therefore, our movement is for the protection of the interests of the future generation and against the conspiracy to destroy the higher education system. We still hope that the government will immediately accept this logical demand, so that we can go back to class," said Prof Nizam.
"A group in the government misled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and introduced the Prottoy Scheme.
This scheme is discriminatory. We teachers want to live with dignity," Prof Nizam said and added, "We have tried to talk to the concerned authorities in the government in various ways. But they showed no interest. As a result, we had no other option but to go for an all-out movement."
DUTA General Secretary Prof Zinat Huda said teachers en masse have rejected the discriminatory Prottoy Scheme.
Our JU Correspondent reported that teachers of the university expressed solidarity with the announced protest programme of the Federation and held a sit-in at the premises of Social Sciences Faculty for an hour on Sunday.
Our JnU Correspondent added JnU Teachers Association in a notification signed by President Prof Md Momin Uddin and General Secretary Shaikh Masrick Hasan announced a total work stoppage on Sunday, aligning with the protest declared by the Federation.
Our Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) Correspondent reported that teachers of the university also announced an indefinite strike from July 1 while observing a full-day work abstention in front of the universitys Social Science Building.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Inter-university Officers Association also declared that public university officers and employees will also go for day-long strike from July 1 to 3.
But emergency services such as water supply and power supply were exempted from of the purview of the protest.
President of the Association and also President of the DU Officer-Employee Unity Council Md Abdul Motaleb threatened of launching tougher movement such as stopping even water and power supply if the government does not accept their demand and the protest gets prolonged.
DU Officers-Employee Unity Council held a human chain at the base of Aparajeya Bangla at noon on the DU campus.
The Finance Ministry, in a notification on March 13, announced that all officers and employees joining autonomous, self-governing, nationalised, statutory or similar organisations and their subordinate institutions on or after July 1, 2024, would be included in Prottoy Scheme under the Universal Pension Scheme.
Since the announcement by the Finance Ministry, teachers, officers and employees of public universities held protest demonstrations on campuses across the country.
