Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Guest lecturers wait for govt. to take over colleges 

R. Sujatha 

 
CHENNAI, November 13, 2018 00:00 IST


CM had promised that they would be given permanent jobs

Nearly 1,000 guest lecturers are waiting for the government to take over the constituent colleges as promised by the Chief Minister in the Assembly during the budget session.

There are 41 constituent colleges run by the respective State universities. Around 1,000 guest lecturers work on a temporary basis and many have put in around 10-15 years of service without any corresponding benefits. In some cases, these lecturers are paid just a fifth of the UGC-mandated salary.

“Manonmaniam Sundaranar University has four constituent colleges with 140 faculty and six university colleges with 180 faculty. Some of the institutions were started in rented buildings. Later with the District Collector’s help, land was acquired,” said S. Subburaju, president of the Madurai Kamaraj, Manonmaniam Sundaranar, Mother Teresa and Alagappa University Teachers’ Association (MUTA).

The MS University issued an order six months ago and now teachers are being paid Rs. 20,000 as salary, he said adding that earlier they were getting less.

“Bharathidasan University, with 10 constituent colleges, has three categories of guest lecturers — those paid on hourly basis; teachers who are permanent guest faculty and Parent-Teacher Association funded teachers. These teachers are paid only Rs. 5,000 a month, whereas the UGC has stipulated Rs. 25,000,” said G. Ramesh, State vice-president of Tamil Nadu Government College Teachers Association.

“The CM’s 110 announcement directed the Universities to retain the permanent teachers and bring the guest lecturers under the government’s purview. They are an exploited lot, suffering in the hands of the government and the universities,” points out K. Pandiyan of the Association of University Teachers.

“The University has 31 eligible regular teachers who are waiting endlessly for the revised pay scale. These teachers are not eligible for M.Phil or Ph.D guideship despite being qualified,” he adds.

Teachers associations say they have been repeatedly taking up the issue with Mangat Ram Sharma, the Higher Education secretary, but in vain. Though talks were held by the earlier Higher Education Secretary Sunil Paliwal to hike the salary of the permanent qualified guest faculty to Rs. 25,000, no headway was made.

The TNGCTA office-bearers say they have sought appointment with the present secretary. But without a GO on the takeover, nothing can be achieved, they point out. This would also affect the quality of education imparted, they caution.

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