Teacher leaders of Universities and Colleges of Punjab, Haryana, J&K, H.P. and Chandigarh in a meeting hosted by Panjab University Teachers’ Association (PUTA), flayed the state Governments for anti education policies which are harming the interests of youth, who are future of the nation. Meeting was held under the aegis of All India Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organizations (AIFUCTO), as part of its effort in their golden Jubilee year, to strengthen the movement.
The meeting was co-chaired by Dr. V.S. Nehra and Dr. Jagwant Singh and conducted by AIFUCTO Zonal Secretary Dr. Attar Singh. The meeting was unanimous in its opinion that mushrooming of private universities, Engineering Colleges, Dental Colleges and B.Ed. Colleges has done a serious damage to the quality of education and has brought in corruption in the university system. Contractual, ad hoc and guest faculty appointments exceeding the permitted limits is discouraging talented persons from entering the teaching profession with serious consequences for the country. Meeting felt that the state governments simply do not understand the policy perspective of UGC and Govt. of India as is reflected in their failure in implementation of UGC pay scales notification in toto and enhancement in retirement age resulting into delay in release of arrears.
The meeting decided to form a co-ordination committee of teachers’ organizations to fight the common ills in the next academic session. In a resolution it flayed state Govt. for ban on recruitment and large number of vacancies in universities and colleges and low payment to ad hoc and contractual staff against the regulations.