Teachers demand pay hike, to strike work

10 Jul 2009, 0317 hrs IST, Anahita Mukherji , TNN





MUMBAI: Doctors aren't the only ones going on strike this month. From July 14, an estimated 30,000 college and university teachers, under the banner
of the Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers' Organisations (MFUCTO), will go on an indefinite strike until their demands are met.

Teachers will be protesting the non-implementation of the sixth pay commission for college and university employees as well as the government's implementation of NET/SET qualifications.

"In January, the Maharashtra government announced that it would introduce the sixth pay commission for college and university teachers as well as government employees and school teachers. But while they have done so for government employees and school teachers, we are yet to receive the revised salaries,'' said CR Sadasivan, president of MFUCTO. Another demand includes the unfair treatment of teachers who have not passed the National Eligibility Test (NET) or the State Level Eligibility Test (SLET).

"In 1991, the University Grants Commission (UGC) first passed a notification asking all states to make the NET/SLET exams a necessary qualification for college and university teachers. UGC also asked universities to create the necessary statutes. But the Maharashtra government did not do so," said Sadasivan.

In 2000, UGC once again passed a notification making it compulsory from the year 2000, but not retrospectively. "So, teachers who had already been appointed between 1991 and 2000 were not required to do so. Those who have been appointed without NET/SLET in Maharashtra have not been given their promotions and are still on the original pay scales,'' said Sadasivan.

Teachers say they are also protesting the apathetic attitude of government authorities towards their demands. According to MFUCTO, despite repeated requests to hold a meeting with them, the government has failed to do so.

Incidentally, college and university teachers went on mass casual leave on Monday.