Public university teachers to stage half-day work stoppage over Prottoy Scheme on Tuesday

Teachers will enforce a half-day work stoppage in public universities throughout Bangladesh on Tuesday in a move to pike pressure on the authorities to revoke the Prottoy Scheme for universal pension.

Teachers will abstain from work and hold a sit-in protest from 8am to 1pm on that day, according to a notification issued by the Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers' Associations, or FBUTA, announced on Monday.

The federation will announce their next programmes at a press conference at Dhaka University's 'Bottola' at 1pm, reports bdnews24.com.

On Mar 13, the Ministry of Finance issued a notification removing university teachers from the current pension system and including them in the universal pension scheme.

This change will result in financial difficulties for teachers appointed on or after Jul 1, the notification said.

Following this announcement, different university teachers' associations under the FBUTA have already conducted peaceful protests.

As part of a series of actions, teachers from all public universities in the country will observe a half-day work abstention on Jun 4, it added.

The finance ministry introduced a new package called the Prottoy Scheme in addition to the four schemes of the Universal Pension Scheme.

According to this new scheme, all types of autonomous, semi-autonomous, state-owned, statutory, or similar organisations and their subsidiaries will be included in the universal pension system if they join after Jul 1, 2024.

Earlier, at a press conference, Nizamul Hoque Bhuiyan, the federation’s secretary general, said: "The scheme will create economic and social disparities between those who started their jobs before and after Jul 1.

"This goes against the principle of equality in the Constitution. Under the scheme, 10 percent of the basic salary will be deducted, which was not the case before. There will be no gratuity in this scheme."

He added, "Currently, pensioners and their nominees receive lifetime pensions, but under the new scheme, pensioners will receive pensions only until they reach 75 years of age. The 5 percent increment provided in the existing pension system is not clearly outlined in the universal pension system."

He claimed that the Prottoy Scheme did not exist when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the universal pension scheme.

He criticised, "Suddenly, a group has imposed such a discriminatory system on university teachers while keeping their facilities intact."