TIRUCHY: After putting in years of service, the temporary teaching staff of the Anna University are facing an uncertain future as the university has called for fresh applications for the same post.
The temporary teaching staff, who are referred internally as “teaching fellows”, though paid only one-fourth of the pay of the regularised teaching staff, form as much as around one-third of the teaching faculty strength in many of the departments.
Kept on contract-based employment for years together now, they are under the grip of fear about losing the jobs since the university’s notification last month called for fresh applicants for temporary teaching posts.
A temporary teaching staff, on condition of anonymity, said “Temporary staff work harder and extra-hours than permanent faculties at the institution. As most have spent over five to ten years here, it is only fair to make us permanent.”
Some of them Express spoke to have been working over a decade in the university on temporary basis.
Explaining how the system works. a teaching fellow said, “After the six-months contract expires, they renew the contracts leaving a few days gap, when we won’t be allowed to sign attendance. Because, as per university norms anyone working for three years continuously must be made permanent staff. So they deliberately restrict us from having a continuous service period.”
The only solace the teaching fellows had recently was the assurance given by the university’s Vice-Chancellor M K Surappa that their pay will be hiked and there will be annual appraisals. No salary hikes were given to them since the Vice Chancellor’s post was lying vacant for nearly two years before Surappa’s appointment in April.
But on the other hand, the university’s recent notification does not give any preference to those already working in the university as temporary teaching staff for years now. This has led to fears whether those working for years now in the university will be terminated.
“As most of the teaching fellows have worked in the institution for more than three years, we should be made permanent”, said, Raghu (name changed) a temporary teaching staff of College of Engineering, Guindy. Such temporary teaching staff number around 270 in total in the Guindy and Chromepet campuses of the university.