Guest lecturers in the Government College of Arts and Science in Uthiramerur have threatened to stay away from work from Monday as they have not been not paid since the beginning of the current academic year.
The two-year-old Uthiramerur college in Kancheepuram district is among the 12 new colleges that runs solely with the support of guest lecturers. Each of the new colleges has around five guest lecturers. The government sanctioned 14 posts in the first year but none in the second year, says P. Sivaraman, president of Government College Teachers Manram. The Uthiramerur college has only one permanent staff member and five other teachers who were on deputation from other colleges.
The government has appointed 1,623 guest lecturers on a monthly consolidated salary of Rs.10,000 for the period between June and March. They are not paid any salary for the two months when the colleges are closed for summer holidays. Last month the government issued orders to pay the pending salaries for six months to 1,623 lecturers.
The guest lecturers appointed to the new colleges were not included in the list.
A senior official of the Directorate of Higher Education said his office had not received any official communication about the Uthiramerur college lecturers’ decision. “The government order for salaries for the guest lecturers would be ready this week. The proposal for the guest lecturers for the new colleges came later and we had to make a separate request to the government,” the official said. According to him the delay was due to a court case preferred by a member of the Association of University Teachers in Vellore.
GCTM gesture
Meanwhile, in an effort to sustain the teachers till the salaries are released, the GCTM has decided to fund the teachers in the Uthiramerur college.
