Pro-Bangladesh Nationalist Party teachers of Jahangirnagar University on Tuesday slammed the government decision about compulsory enrolment of university teachers in the universal pension scheme in Bangladesh by terming it as a new tool of looting the financial sector of the country.
The teachers also demanded a separate pay scale for university teachers.
At a human chain formed on the university’s central Shaheed Minar premises under the banner of ‘Nationalist Teachers Forum’, the speakers called for cancellation of the circular issued by the Finance Division in this regard.
Addressing the human chain, professor Jamal Uddin of environmental sciences department said, ‘The state is going to become a bankrupt country under the incumbent government due to its rampant corruption and irregularities.’
‘The money under this scheme will be looted in a way similar to the one the government has looted most of the banks and financial institutions,’ he alleged.
Professor Sohel Rana of the pharmacy department said, ‘The universal pension scheme is going to be another rash decision of the government.’
Claiming the decision discriminatory, professor Shamsul Alam of the government and politics department said, ‘The decision will make the teaching job unpopular with the highest degree holders.’
The speakers at the human chain also cited the merger of ‘weak’ banks with comparatively ‘strong’ banks as the instances of economic vulnerability of the country under rule by the Awami League.
Conducted by professor Nurul Islam of the geography and environment department, professor Kamrul Ahsan of philosophy, professor Mafruhi Satter of pharmacy department, among others, addressed the human chain.
On March 13, the Ministry of Finance issued a notification about the scheme, stating that ‘all officers and employees who join the service of all autonomous, self-governing, nationalised, statutory or similar organisations and their subordinate institutions on or after July 1, 2024, would be brought under the universal pension scheme.
The government introduced the universal pension scheme in August 2023.
