BENGALURU:Over 300 guest lecturers working with various government degree colleges across the state staged a protest outside the office of the Commissioner of the Department of Collegiate Education on Monday demanding that the government withdraw a recent order to remove junior guest lecturers.
The department has issued a circular asking college principals to remove junior guest lecturers after regular assistant professors are appointed and also to give preference to those who have NET, SLET and PhD certificates.
Shrinivas Achar, president of the Karnataka Government Colleges Guest Teachers Association, said, “If the department fails to act even after our protest, we will hold protests across the state and boycott classes.” If the order is implemented, over 4,000 guest lecturers will lose their jobs, he added.
Some members of the Legislative Council such as K T Shrikante Gowda, Chowda Reddy and Ramesh Babu also joined the guest lecturers in the protest. The MLCs also staged a protest in front of Higher Education Minister Basavaraja Rayareddi’s chamber and even locked it.
When police did not permit the guest lecturers to protest near the Department, the protesters shifted their protest to Freedom Park.