A group of teachers of government colleges affiliated to Bharathidasan University disrupted and staged a protest during the varsity’s Research Committee meeting held at Vice-Chancellor M. Selvam’s chamber on Tuesday. They complained about “lack of clarity” and “undue delay” in accepting publication of papers by research scholars.
They also demanded the removal of the Director of Research (in-charge) for his “biased and anti-teacher” approach.
More than 200 teachers, many of them research guides, owing allegiance to Tamil Nadu Government College Teachers Association (TNGCTA), who came from Tiruchi, Pudukottai, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and other delta districts, assembled in front of the VC’s office around 3 p.m. They subsequently forced their way into the office when the Research Committee meeting was on. Some of them entered into heated arguments with Mr. Selvam, complaining of undue delay in accepting the articles published by the research scholars in listed journals of the University Grant Commission. The meeting came to an abrupt end as tempers ran high and chaos due to the protest.
As per the UGC guidelines, research scholars had to publish at least two papers before submitting Ph.D thesis, and many of the research scholars had published papers in the approved journals of UGC CARE list, the agitators said. But, the Research Director refused to recognise them and this affected many research scholars. Though the issue was brought to the knowledge of the Vice Chancellor on several occasions, no action had been taken.
“Most of the research articles published by the research scholars in the approved journals were disapproved. The Research Section of the University is acting as a stumbling block in pursuing research degrees,” P. David Livingstone, zonal secretary, Tamil Nadu Government College Teachers Association.
The VC tried to pacify the agitators and said that he would look into their grievances immediately. But the agitators sought a written assurance. Later, they withdrew the protest after the VC promised to take immediate action on most of their demands.
Mr. Selvam told The Hindu that the University would ensure quality of research on all aspects. There was no hidden agenda in processing research projects. The grievances of teachers would be studied. Publication of journals would be accepted if the researchers produced evidence. The process had been initiated to appoint a Director of Research.
