Madras univ students protest over denial of teaching jobs

August 14, 2013 08:59 am | Updated 11:02 am IST - CHENNAI:

Students who studied Tamil literature and culture were denied teaching jobs as the Teacher Recruitment Board does not recognise their degree. Photo: V. Ganesan

Students who studied Tamil literature and culture were denied teaching jobs as the Teacher Recruitment Board does not recognise their degree. Photo: V. Ganesan

Students who took the course in Tamil literature and culture at University of Madras have been denied teaching jobs in the State as the Teacher Recruitment Board (TRB) does not recognise their degree.

The board had recently asked candidates with postgraduate degrees in Tamil to apply for over 600 vacant posts for Tamil teachers in various schools and colleges across the State.

Students of the department of Tamil, over 70 of them, however were turned down by the board in its recent interviews, and informed their degrees were not listed as recognised. Some of them protested outside the vice-chancellor’s office on Tuesday.

“We don’t understand how the oldest university in the State has not made efforts to register its courses with the TRB,” said a student. Students said in the last two years they had studied Tamil classical literature, linguistics, folklore and Tamil grammar, among other subjects. “We took Tamil because the State government promised us jobs. This is the first time the TRB has come out with so many vacancies but we have lost the chance. We don’t understand why we are not being considered,” said another student

Last month, the TRB refused to consider the applications of M.Com students of the University, because the specialisations offered in the commerce section were not considered the equivalent of an M.Com. “Officials had immediately taken steps to address the issue. We want them to do the same for us Tamil students too,” said a student.

Officials of the university said they were aware of the problems faced by the students and were in touch with the board. A senior official said the problem that had occurred with recently designed specialisations and interdisciplinary offerings could be sorted out after discussions with the academic board. “The TNPSC committee which decides the recognition and equivalence of courses is set to address the matter on Friday,” he said.

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