Chandigarh, October 20, 2018: The Punjab Government has totally failed to provide good conditions for the development of higher education in Punjab. Higher education is standing at crossroad. As a result of bad policies of government in higher education, assistant professors of 136 aided colleges will come out on roads for State level Rally and continuous hunger strike in Patiala from 21 October 2018 under the banner of 1925 aided colleges teacher front (Punjab).
Core committee members of the front said thatthese Assistant Professors have already completed their three year service on basic pay in June 2018, but till date government has not issued letter of regularization with full scale.Due to10 years of ban on recruitment in these 136 colleges since 2005, quality of education was suffering a lot. In this connection PILwas filed in Punjab and Haryana High Court.Hon’ble Court ordered Punjab government to fill these posts.Panjab Government appointed these teachers on contractual basis rather than regular appointments and that too on mere basic pay without any allowances / benefits. Recruitment on contractual basis was against the rules of UGC Regulations, 2010. These teachers were appointed after screening by a Committee constituted in accordance with the UGC Regulationson merit basis and issued appointment letters and approvals by the concerned Universities and State Government.
First batch of teachers have already completed their three years of contractual service on 30 June2018 and they are still waiting for the issue of letter of regularization of their services with all benefits.For making their appointments on regular basis, Teachers have tried their hand at all the democratic ways. They have posted hundreds of letters to the Chief Minister’s office, but no one paid attention to their demands. They met with different MLAs& MPs from Congress Party and given memorandum. Teachers are also requesting that their three years of service during contractual period should be counted as their regular service and they should be confirmed from the day one of issuing of the letter of regularization.
PCCTU and some other unions have also extended support to these assistant professors for their struggle of their rights. Core committee of this front has said that they are very sad that in spite of the tragedy of Amritsar they are to protest. Their one team will be in Amritsar to extend any help to the patients of this accident.