THIS is unacceptable that the authorities did not resolve the crisis centred on the dissatisfaction of employees of state-owned autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies regarding the mandatory new pension instrument under the Universal Pension Scheme in three months. Since the gazette notification published on March 14, which made the new pension scheme, named Prattay, mandatory for all officials and employees who would join state-owned autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies from July 1, 2024 onwards, employees of state-owned autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies, especially public university teachers, have demonstrated protests and rejected the scheme. The Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers Association has termed the new pension scheme discriminatory and boycotted classes, examinations and administrative activities on June 30, a day before the start of the implementation of the new pension instrument. On July 1, the association began an indefinite work abstention, which, it says, will continue unless the demand for the cancellation of the gazette linked to the Prattay scheme is met. Earlier, a five-member committee of the Dhaka University Teachers鈥� Association prepared a comparative analysis of the existing pension system with the new pension scheme and concluded that the benefits to teachers and other employees of state-owned autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies would decrease, thus discouraging meritorious students from seeking teaching as a profession.
Under the new pension scheme, the employing organisation will deduct a maximum of 10 per cent of the basic salary of an employee, and the organisation will also deposit the same amount in the employee鈥檚 account. Employees will get a monthly pension if they contribute for at least 10 years. And if they subscribe for less than 10 years, they will get a one-time refund with a profit. The DUTA analysis says that the new scheme does not offer any one-time gratuity and does not include festival bonuses and medical allowances. The retirement age for a teacher under the Prattay scheme is defined as 60 years, while it was 65 years under the old pension system. The new system also does not offer financial benefits during the leave preparatory period or facilities for encashment of earned leave. Under the old scheme, a retired employee or his or her nominee is entitled to pension till death, while under the new scheme, the employee will receive pension till death, but the nominee, after the pensioner鈥檚 death, will be entitled to pension till the age of 75 of the pensioner. Employees in other autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies have also raised concern. They see it as an injustice to them, as their pension benefits might decline and as government employees have not been brought under the universal pension scheme.
The government must, therefore, immediately address the issue. The government must consult with the teachers鈥� association and other employee associations from autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies and should not impose a pension scheme that they do not want to be part of. The government must also revisit other instruments under the universal pension scheme, which bears almost no semblance to a universal pension scheme.
