CHENNAI: The sit-in protest of the Association of University Teachers (AUT) and Members of Madurai Kamaraj, Manonmaniam Sundaranar, Mother Teresa, and Alagappa University Teachers’ Association (MUTA) enters third day with the protesters also announced that they would also stage indefinite hunger stir from December 8.
Apart from their demands includes implementing the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) and providing incentives for the government-aided college professors, who have completed MPhil and PhD as per the UGC norms, AUT president Gandhiraj claimed even though the new private university bill has been withdrawn, risk to government-aided colleges has not been completely eliminated.
“With the goal of increasing private participation in higher education, several initial steps have been taken in recent years toward gradually relieving the government of its responsibilities toward aided colleges and educational institutions,” he alleged.
More than four years have passed since a GO was issued regarding the parity in service conditions for college teachers. “As per the order, pay equalisation has now been extended to teachers working in government colleges. But, aided college teachers have still not received full pay parity, compensation for previous discrepancies, or arrears,” he added.
The issues arising from the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations have been resolved only for government college teachers, leaving aided college staff still facing injustices even after retirement. “Therefore, it has been decided to stage an indefinite hunger strike from December 8 till the State government fulfils our demands,” he stated.