Date:27/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/27/stories/2008042754010400.htm

New Delhi

Demand to speed up pay revision for teachers

Staff Reporter

Central University teachers call on UGC chairman

‘The Committee has so far not interacted even with the major teachers’ organisations’
Demand for inclusion of teachers teaching self-financing courses in different colleges

NEW DELHI: A delegation of the Federation of Central University Teachers’ Association met University Grants Commission chairman Sukhadeo Thorat over the weekend to register its anguish over “tardy progress” of the work for university teachers’ pay revision.

Led by Aditya Narayan Misra, president of the Association as well as the Delhi University Teachers’ Association, the delegation pointed out that even as the quota for Other Backward Classes was being implemented, more teachers would be needed to cater to this increase in the number of students. But, they said, the Pay Review Committee of the UGC “had not even done the ground work to attract and retain talent in teaching profession”.

“The Committee has so far not interacted even with the major teachers’ organisations like FEDCUTA and DUTA. We demanded expeditious completion of the task assigned to the Committee. Prof. Thorat stated that in the light of the demand for early pay revision, the Committee would explore the possibility of de-linking the revision of pay scales from the other service conditions which may be worked out later on,” said Mr. Misra.

The delegation also raised the demand for inclusion of teachers teaching self-financing courses in different colleges of Delhi University on the rolls of regular teaching strength funded by the UGC.

“Many colleges are conducting self-financing courses like Business Economics, Computer Science and Journalism. Prof. Thorat asked the DUTA to advise the University and its colleges to include these teachers in the strength of other regular teachers in their 11th Plan proposal and the UGC would approve of the same,” he assured. Others in the delegation were Prof. Tabrez Alam Khan, general secretary of FEDCUTA; Prof. Rais Ahmed, president of Jamia Teachers’ Association; Dr. Tarun Kumar, joint secretary of Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association; Vinay Kumar Singh, vice-president of DUTA; and Sanjay Kumar, joint secretary of DUTA.