Guest lecturers have sought the intervention of the Higher Education Minister to save them from “unjust, unlawful exploitation of any kind” by their employers.
The teachers are demanding that they be paid the University Grants Commission-prescribed salary of ₹57,700. Currently, the government pays them less than half the prescribed salary.
The lecturers met R.S. Raja Kannappan on Friday and submitted a six-point charter of demands, which included regularisation. They also wanted the government to introduce ‘equal pay for equal work’.
The lecturers, who came together under an umbrella organisation, the All India College and University Teachers’ Association (non-regular), appealed for yearly incremental benefit, gratuity, pension, provident fund, health scheme, general transfer, service book and all retirement benefits in the event of death during service.
They also wanted the government to provide them leave, including maternity, study, medical and casual leave, as applicable to all government-appointed teachers. Association president S. Sunitha and general secretary Gouranga Debnath said that the guest lecturers must be represented in the teachers’ council and the statutory bodies of universities to which their college is affiliated.
