Over 25,000 degree college teachers affiliated to the Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers Organisation (MFUCTO) on Tuesday proceeded on an indefinite mass leave to press for their demands of filling up vacancies, hike in salaries and implementation of the University Grants Commission’s 7th Pay Commission.
MFUCTO had staged a State-wide ‘Jail Bharo Andolan’ earlier this month at the Mumbai University’s Fort Campus where over 10,000 teachers participated to put forward their demands to the government. After the State declared a complete ban of teachers’ recruitment in 2017, colleges started to hire teachers on a contractual basis, denying them the benefits of fixed salaries, pensions and holidays.
They also do not receive New Pension Schemes (NPS), which teachers appointed in a permanent capacity do. These teachers earn around ₹300 an hour despite there being only one teacher for 120 students. The State has a vacancy of 75,000 even though it needs up to 1.5 lakh seats according to the teacher to student ratio.
“We had said that the strike would be indefinite if there was no response to our demands after September 25. We met the State Education Minister Vinod Tawde and after receiving the minutes of this meeting, we will discuss it with our executive committee and take a sound decision,” Professor Madhu Paranjape, member MFUCTO said.
A request for a releasing the salary of professors, who staged a similar protest of 71 days in 2013, was also made to the minister. “There are only 35,000 sanctioned posts, of which 7,000 are vacant. The ratio of professor to student is 1:120, which isn’t fair on us,” MFUCTO president Tapati Mukhopadhyay said.
Mr. Tawde said that the government was considering MFUCTO’s demands positively. “We will try to come up with solutions for each and every problem that was given to us and we hope that the strike ends soon,” he said.
On Tuesday, teachers took leave from their classes, even though colleges remained open with fewer lectures being conducted.
“The State government should set up a grievances redressal body. We suggested this back in 2013, but till now there has been no response. We will continue to hope that it happens soon,” Mr. Paranjape said.
