Ensuring improved salary structure for public university teachers in Bangladesh

Md Siddikur Rahman Rana

University education is more than the next level in the learning process; it is a critical component of human development worldwide. For making a sustainable nation, university teachers are like concrete. Actually university teachers are responsible to keep the backbone of a nation strong. The future leaders of a country are made by these university teachers. So, to make a pure 'concrete' nation it is very important to give enough financial support for university teachers; otherwise brilliant students will not come in teaching profession. Ultimately nation will be failure in achieving proper higher education. In fact a university teacher refuses to take many luxurious offers and take this job only for honour and passion. So it is an urgent need to increase the salary structure of public university teachers.

The National Education Policy, 2010 also recommends a separate pay scale for teachers. Teachers said that a higher salary structure for them was crucial for a sustainable development of the higher education sector and for drawing meritorious students into teaching. The University Grants Commission in its latest annual report also recommended a "lucrative salary structure" and other benefits to attract meritorious students into teaching.

Bangladeshi public university teachers draw the lowest among salary of their fellows in at least 28 countries. Based on the purchasing power parity, university teachers in Bangladesh are paid the lowest salary.

According to the federation leaders, entry-level university teachers in Bangladesh are 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 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. Teachers said that in pure salary comparison based on exchange rates, the highest salary would be in some western developed nations.

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. The poor salary forces teachers to do part-time, consultancy and other jobs to meet their demands. More than 3,000 public university teachers, mostly without approval, take classes in private universities, University Grants Commission officials said. So the government should try to increase the salary structure of public university teachers in Bangladesh.

The writer is lecturer at Department of Statistics in Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur, Bangladesh,

email:siddikurju@gmail.com

Published in: http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2014/07/13/44778