Teachers split over who deserves a raise

HEC chairman Javeed Leghari announces that the committee has decided to implement the desired raise in salaries.

LAHORE: A split emerged on Thursday between the basic pay scale (BPS) faculty members and those hired through the Tenure Track System (TTS) after the government agreed to raise the teachers’ salaries by 5o per cent, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) chairman Javeed Leghari announced on September 23 that the special committee had decided to implement the desired raise in teachers’ salaries. The raise – a 50 per cent raise in salaries and a 15 per cent raise in medical allowances –  had been promised by the government in the 2010-2011 budget speech.

However, the shocker came when it became apparent that the promised raise would only be given to those who were hired by the varsities through the BPS system. It will not be extended to the faculty members of the TTS.

The Federation of All Pakistan Academic Staff Associations (FAPASA), which protested against the cut in the HEC budget, nominally represents both types of faculty members.

The TTS faculty members are paid from the HEC budget while BPS are paid by the respective varsities. However, both of them are hired by the varsities under rules and regulation set down by the HEC. Under the TTS, members draw lumpsum salaries and do not get pension or gratuity while BPS faculty members get pension and gratuity but their salaries are far lower than the TTS members.

Several TTS faculty members accused their BPS colleagues of ‘using’ them in the protests against the government, saying that their demand of annual increments was ignored. The BPS members, meanwhile, said that the TTS members had nothing to complain about since they were already drawing ‘hefty packages’.

The TTS faculty members said that they had not been given any increment since the scheme was introduced by the government of Pakistan in 2006. “BPS members get increments every year,” one member said. The staff hired through the TTS said that during FAPASA meetings they had been assured that the association would highlight their demand for annual increments.

One of the TTS faculty members, currently teaching at the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Lahore, told The Express Tribune that their TTS faculty members’ annual increments were being linked to the evaluation of their performance in the varsities.

He said that before joining the TTS, almost all the TTS faculty members were teaching at foreign universities. The UET teacher added that the HEC’s announcement on September 23 to accept only the BPS members’ demands was blatant injustice. He said that after the announcement, FAPASA’s office bearers had told them that since almost all significant demands of the association had been accepted, the association’s executive committee would decide whether to continue with the protests or not on September 24 (today). The meeting is to be held in Islamabad.  He said that when he had asked FAPASA’s office bearers why the demand for annual increments of the TTS members had not been pressed, they replied that they were already getting ‘hefty salaries’ from the HEC.

PU’s ASA general secretary Javid Sami told The Express Tribune that the TTS assistant and associate professors and professors were drawing Rs100,000 to Rs300,000 per month while some of the BPS faculty members, even after serving for 20 years, only made Rs40,000 per month. He said that the TTS faculty members should try to be happy for their BPS colleagues.

HEC spokesman Dr Mukhtiar told the Tribune that 849 TTS faculty members were working in public universities across the county.

He said that after the budget cuts the HEC could not promise them increments. He, too, said that they were already being paid a lot more than the BPS members.

Professor Dr Abdul Rehman of UET said that if the HEC did not accept the demand of the TTS faculty members, they would be forced to go back to their previous jobs. He said that the TTS faculty members’ demands should not be disregarded only because they make up a small fraction of the faculty members.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2010.