TN guest faculties stuck in UGC-govt tiff, stage protests
On the one hand, they are demanding the implementation of new pay recommendations of the University Grants Commission (UGC), which is legitimate
Protesting guest lecturers of Tiruvarur Thiru Vi Ka Government Arts and Science College (file photo)
CHENNAI: Over 7,000 guest lecturers in the State-run Arts and Science colleges across Tamil Nadu, protesting for pay hikes and job regularisation, are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
On the one hand, they are demanding the implementation of new pay recommendations of the University Grants Commission (UGC), which is legitimate. But on the other hand the State says that it is paying them despite not receiving central funds meant for their salaries.
Last year, the Madras High Court directed the Director of Collegiate Education, which controls Arts and Science Colleges in the State, to take a call on the UGC’s revised guidelines concerning enhanced honorariums for guest faculties.
At present, over 7,000 guest lecturers are employed for a consolidated salary of Rs 25,000 per month. A senior official from the Higher Education Department, seeking anonymity, said that the UGC has not released Rs 40 crore per year since 2017, which is meant to pay the guest faculty.
“However, the state government has made efforts not to with-hold the salaries and pay them continuously”, he said. He added, “Despite the non-release of funds from the UGC, the State has increased the salaries of the guest lecturers by Rs 5,000, and now they get Rs 25,000.”
But protesting faculty point out how they are not being regularised, even after servicing for decades. All India Save Education Committee (AISEC) V Sudhakar said that the UGC has recommended the State government to pay Rs 57,500 to the guest lecturers per month. “However, the State government gave various reasons for not implementing it,” he said.
Many guest lecturers haven’t been made permanent staff despite “working more than 20 years in the colleges,” he claimed.
