College teachers’ protest continues for second day

Lovleen Bains
Sahnewal, May 6

The protest of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union against “anti-teacher” attitude of officials of the Higher Education Department continued for the second day today.

Teachers say they have made endless pleas to the Department to allow them to take online classes as cases in the state were surging rapidly.

The union had alleged that the Higher Education Secretary had allowed the professors of Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) to work from home when it came to granting work from home to college teachers, he had sent the file to the state Department of Home Affairs to delay the matter.

Union president Dr Vinay Sophat said he was disappointed with the statement of the Secretary that GNDU was an autonomous body and could take its own decision.

“If GNDU is an autonomous body, then why the university, in its circular dated May 4, mentioned that work from home is granted after discussion with the Higher Education Secretary?” Sophat questioned.

“This is not the first time the Secretary has mislead the Chief Minister. He had also misled him about the regularisation of the 410 assistant professors in aided colleges. The Higher Education Department vide its September 2019 and August 2020 notification has directed college managements to complete the process of the regularisation of these 410 assistant professors at their own end and submit their salary claims to DPI Colleges. But to date, many managements have held back the regularisation of teachers,” the union president alleged.

The members said in spite of the fact that the Education Minister was always positive in his response to the teaching community, the officials in the Department were never ready to listen to teachers’ concerns despite repeated pleas.

The PCCTU has warned that it will intensify the agitation against the officials if their issues were not resolved at the earliest.