24 days on, no classes at four tech universities in Punjab

Thousands of students studying in the four technical universities of the state are a harried lot as it has been almost a month since they have attended regular classes. Reason: About 280 members of the teaching faculty at these universities have been on a strike, demanding implementation of the 7th Pay Commission.

The institutions where studies have been affected are IK Gujral Punjab Technical University, Kapurthala, Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University, Bathinda, Sardar Beant Singh State University, Gurdaspur, and Shaheed Bhagat Singh State University, Ferozepur.

The strike entered its 58th day today. Initially, faculty members held sit-in for one hour daily during the lunch time. However, for the past 24 days, the regular staff is not taking any classes. Only some guest faculty members are visiting the universities. The regular teachers have been coming to the campus daily and even going to the classrooms as per the timetable but not holding any class.

Students said only their attendance was taken. They added that they had to go to the campus daily to ensure their attendance does not go short, as it could debar them from taking the examinations scheduled for November 22 onwards.

Parents of some students said, “The demands of the staff and their agitation are justified but who will compensate for the academic loss of their children. They hardly attended any class in the current semester. We are paying lakhs of rupees as annual fee.”

Dinesh Gupta, president of the Teachers’ Association at IKGPTU, said, “The revised pay scales have been granted to all officers in the non-teaching category at the IKGPTU in August this year, but not the teachers. We are about 70 regular teachers at the campus and about 50 are affected the most as they have their promotions due. We have been highlighting the issue at the level of Technical Education Minister Harjot Bains, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Principal Secretary Vivek Pratap and Vice-Chancellor Dr Susheel Mittal, but to no avail. We have already submitted it in writing that we shall not be giving any examination duties also.”

Harjot Bains said, “The issue of implementation of the 7th Pay Commission to the staff is in the last leg of clearance. It will be done in the next few days. We have already told the faculty members about it.”