World Teachers Day today
Public university teachers in Bangladesh are paid less than what their fellows get paid in many other countries on the count of purchasing power parity.
The teachers, who also paid less than their fellows in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, said that they could hardly live a decent life university teachers with the money they get paid.
In such a situation, Bangladesh, meanwhile, observes World Teachers’ Day today as elsewhere in the world with the slogan ‘A Call for Teachers.’
The 2008 elections manifesto of the ruling Awami League, however, said: ‘A higher salary scale for teachers will be ensured. A permanent pay commission and a separate service commission will be set up for teachers.’
The National Education Policy 2010 also recommends a separate pay scale for teachers.
Teachers said that a higher salary structure for teachers was crucial for a sustainable development of the higher education sector and for drawing meritorious students into teaching.
Low pay and benefits force teachers to try to seek out means to earn extra money, their leaders said.
The University Grants Commission in its latest annual report also recommended a ‘lucrative salary structure’ and others benefit to attract meritorious students into teaching.
The Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers’ Association president, Moazzem Hossain Khan, told New Age that teachers lead miserable life and the government should increase the salary of university teachers at least to the level that is there in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The UGC chairman, AK Azad Chowdhury, blamed inadequate budgetary allocation for the poor salary structure for teachers in Bangladesh.
The education minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, told New Age that government was trying to increase the salary of university teachers.
The minister said that salary in others sectors compared with other countries was also low. ‘The cost of living in Bangladesh is also the lowest among other countries. We are not happy about the university teacher’s salary but the education budget was only 2 per cent of the GDP,’ he said.
According to the UGC secretary, Mohammad Khaled, a lecturer at public universities gets salary in keeping with Grade 9 of the National Pay Scale 2009 with the basic of Tk 11,000. An assistant professor gets salary in Grade 6 with the basic of Tk 18,500, associate professors in Grade 4 with the basic of Tk 25,750 and a professor in Grade 3 with the basic of Tk 29,000.
Khaled said that teachers also get house rent and medical and other allowances.
Federation leaders told New Age that till 2012 March, public university teachers had drawn the lowest among salaries of their fellows in at least 28 countries.
They said that based on the purchasing power parity, university teachers in Bangladesh get paid the lowest salary.
According to the federation leaders, entry-level university teachers in Bangladesh get paid $135 a month and professors $413 a month while in Ethiopia, it is $864 for entry-level teachers and $1,580 for professors.
In Kazakhstan, entry-level teachers get paid $1,037 and and professors $2,304; in Turkey, $2,173 and $3,898; and in Brazil, $1,858 and $4,550.
In Japan, entry-level teachers get $2,897 and professors $4,604; in Malaysia, $2,824 and $7,864; in Nigeria, $2,758 and $6,229; and in Australia, $3,930 and $7,499.
In India, entry-level teachers get $3,954 and professors 7,433 and In the United Kingdom, $4,077 and $8,369.
The federation president Moazzem Hossain said that methodology of determining the salary was based on the purchasing power parity in which salaries reflect what it takes to buy similar goods and services in different countries.
Teachers said that in pure salary comparison based on exchange rates, the highest salaries would be in some Western developed nations.
Moazzem added that a lecturer in India gets paid about Rs 60,000 rupees while a professor draws about Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh a month.
The federation secretary general, Ohiduzzaman Chan, said that in Pakistan, a professor draws about Rs 2.3 lakh to Rs 4 lakh a month. He added that in Sri Lanka, a professor draws Rs 1.4 lakh a month.
They said that the federation had sent letters to the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, seeking a salary increase.
‘The government has not done much to increase the salary of university teachers although it talked about upholding the dignity of teachers and the establishment of a separate pay scale for teachers in the election manifesto and in the national education policy,’ Ohiduzzaman said.
The poor salary forces teachers to do part-time, consultancy and other jobs to meet their demands, Ohiduzzaman said.
More than 3,000 public university teachers, mostly without approval, take classes in private universities, University Grants Commission officials said.
The commission’s annual report 2011, which is the latest and published in November 2012, said that 34 public universities had about 10,000 teachers and 2780 are professors,1645 are associate professors, 2950 assistant professors and 2450 are lecturers.
The UGC chairman, AK Azad Chowdhury, said, ‘The salary of a teacher should be increased to a reasonable level.’
-With New Age input
