Guest asst professors want govt to take full responsibility of salaries

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 2

The guest faculty assistant professors, 868 in number, who work in the majority of the state’s government colleges, want the collection of Parent Teacher Association (PTA) funds to be stopped and the state government to pay Rs 11,600 out of its own pocket so that underprivileged families do not bear the burden.

These teachers have been working in these colleges for the past two-three decades under four different income slabs. The first category consists of professors who have been in service for up to five years and are paid a fixed salary of Rs 33,600. The second category includes those with a service tenure of 6-10 years and a salary of Rs 38,100. Professors in the third category, with 11-16 years of service, earn Rs 42,600 per month, while those with more than 16 years of experience get Rs 47,000.

“The government pays the salaries of which Rs 11,600 comes from the PTA funds collected. Now, we ask why should the parents bear the financial burden? The students come from poor and needy families for whom even paying the college fee is difficult; how will they pay for our salaries?” questioned Dr Ravinder Singh, state president of the Guest Faculty Assistant Professors Association of Punjab.

Dr Singh used the Bathinda district as an example, stating that some faculty members had not received the PTA funds part of the salary in the past 17 months. “In districts like Ludhiana, Amritsar, and Patiala, where the student population is high, the funds can be collected with ease, but in districts where the student population is low, the PTA funds are not collected” said another professor at a government college here.

Members of the association said the jobs of 878 guest faculty assistant professors working in government colleges across the state should be safeguarded on a priority basis, and that new pay scales should be provided immediately from the state treasury.