Teachers wear black badges, hold sit-in

Neha Saini

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 5

Wearing black badges and sitting in hot and humid conditions outside their respective colleges, teachers today marked the 62nd Teacher’s Day by venting their frustration towards the state government in dharnas across the district. But why are they frustrated?

“It’s been 2.5 years since the government announced implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission for teachers in the state. Punjab remains the only state which is yet to implement the wages. Despite notification, we are still waiting. Besides, the state of higher education in Punjab is going from bad to worse with declining grants, rising vacancies in colleges, especially private-aided institutions and almost zero placements for students. Why is the government sleeping on these issues of importance?” said Dr Gurdas Sekhon, member of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union (PCCTU) and a faculty of DAV College, Hathi Gate.

Teachers from all private and aided colleges, including DAV College, BBKDAV colleges, Hindu College and others, joined the sit-in wearing black badges under the banner of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union.

Dr Vikas Bhardwaj, president, DAV College Teachers’ Union, said the joint action committee set up by the state government had unanimously agreed that the Seventh Pay Commission should be implemented at the earliest. However, more than two years had passed since the notification of the Pay Commission by the Punjab Government, but it was yet to be implemented he said, while adding that teachers feel that pay scales should be given immediately.

The PCCTU unit of BBK DAV College for Women also held a protest. Dr Seema Jaitley, president, PCCTU, appealed to the government to fulfil long standing demands of college teachers like implementation of the pay commission, inclusion of all posts under 95 per cent grant-in-aid scheme, time-bound promotion and enhanced retirement benefits including pension and gratuity.

Does govt want to

develop only schools

Raising a few questions, Dr Gurdas Singh Sekhon said, “Has Education Minister Harjot Bains ever visited any college? Has he interacted with teachers serving as faculty of grant-in aid colleges? Education Minister needs to be clear if the government wants to develop only schools or also work towards improving the higher education system in the state.”

He said, “The CM and all ministers of Punjab boast that students’ enrolment has increased this year in colleges, but where are the teachers? The vacancies under 1925 posts that were awarded by the high court to aided colleges remain vacant as colleges are not allowed to recruit faculty. The government’s grant under grant-in-aid scheme is still pending, forcing the remaining faculty to work on half salaries or without one for months,” he said.

This gap, said Dr Sekhon, raised concerns as high student intake would mean nothing if the outcome after three years fails to serve purpose of the education.

According to teachers, there is an average vacancy of 8 to 10 teaching posts in each college. DAV College alone has 30 to 35 vacant posts of assistant professor.