Contractual lecturers, teachers betrayed by BJP govt : JKNPP

Jammu | 13-Aug-2020

Castigating the J&K administration for paying no heed to the grievances of contractual Lecturers and Teaching Assistants engaged in Higher Education department, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh sought enhancement of salary and regularization of services in their favour without any further delay.�The government has been treating the educated youth like disposables by divesting them of their due honorarium as well as regularization benefits in the employment. They continue to face govt apathy despite repeated assurances absorption in regular establishment with none to listen to their woes�, rued Harsh. Similar was the plight of contractual teachers who were thrown out by the govt in the most contemptuous manner after utilizing their services for several years in staff deficient schools. The maltreatment of educated youth was totally unacceptable and would fought tooth and nail, asserted Singh. He was addressing a press conference in Jammu today.
Expressing solidarity with nearly 2300 lecturers engaged as Academic Arrangement and Teaching Assistants in the Degree colleges all across UT of J&K, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh regretted that such highly qualified and experienced incumbents including PhDs, M. Phils, NET/ SLET and Post Graduates were being paid Rs. 28,000/- per month and Rs.22000/- per month respectively. He said that they were treated like bonded labourers whose honorarium was grossly meagre in proportion to the quantum of work assigned to them. �The contractual/ academic arrangement Lecturers and Teaching Assistants who are being made to work for paltry salary as against the whopping pay packet paid to their regular compeers is nothing but an exploitative enslavement of the teachers. They are treated like mere expendables and subjected to worst form of human rights violation�, said Harsh. He regretted that while adhoc, contractual and consolidated employees engaged in various Government departments were regularized after a period of seven years, these Lecturers and Teaching Assistants were arbitrarily ignored despite their commendable services in the field of education. He divulged that several incumbents had become over aged and many were on the verge of becoming ineligible to apply in the govt services. �It is shocking and disturbing to know that contractual Lecturers/ Teaching Assistants have been despicably converted to �need based� teachers of late vide Govt. order No.88 HE of 2020 dated 17.02.2020. They are forced to work like daily wagers. Several such teachers who are working in hilly and remote areas have not been given any increment. They have been pushed to face starvation and other miseries of life. We seek immediate revocation of this draconian order. What kind of social transformation you could expect in view of the maltreatment doled to the so called �Nation builders�?�, asked Harsh.
Citing the exploitation of the teachers as contravention of the principle of �Equal pay for equal work� enshrined in the Indian constitution, Mr. Singh revealed that while the governments of many states like Haryana, Delhi, HP, Maharashtra had revised the salaries of contractual Lecturers engaged in Higher Education at par with the regular appointees, similar circumstanced faculty in UT of J&K were forced to protest on the roads for their genuine demands. He further disclosed that vide Govt order No. PS/Adv(S)/ 2020/82 dated 29.07.2020, the Advisor to Lt. Governor holding the charge of Higher Education had directed the Commissioner/ Secretary to the Government to submit a proposal to increase the retirement age of the College teachers from 60 to 62 in view of the massive shortage of the faculty in degree colleges. He wondered that in the wake of scarcity of the faculty why the Government had been averse to the contractual Lecturers and Teaching Assistants. �You can mull a proposal for increasing the retirement age of the working incumbents but you cannot propose to frame a suitable policy for the regularization of the contractual faculty in view of the deficiency of teachers in the department. You can have a provision of funds to pay for the salaries of those who are seeking age extension for retirement but you cannot have funds to revise and enhance the salaries of the contractual Lecturers who are struggling to make both ends meet�, Harsh took a dig at the Government.
Seeking a thorough review of the plight of teaching fraternity, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh sought personal intervention of the Lt. Governor to take serious cognizance of their genuine demands pertaining to enhancement of salary and regularization of their services at the earliest in the ultimate interests of educational institutions in J&K. He brought to the notice of the LG that the proposal of age enhancement of permanent faculty would involve Rs. 15 crores annually for 50 retirees only whereas, if a job policy was framed then more than 200 Lecturers/ Teaching Assistants could be regularized every year without any financial implications. Mr. Singh said that Panthers Party shall stand toe to toe, shoulder to shoulder with the aggrieved Lecturers and Teaching Assistants in their struggle and shall not relent unless they were ensured justice with full dignity and honour.
Gagan Pratap Singh, State Secretary & Surinder Chouhan, District President Jammu (Rural) were also present in the press conference.