CHENNAI: The recent announcement by State higher education minister K Ponmudy on the appointment of 4,000 assistant professors in government arts and science colleges across Tamil Nadu through written test and interviews via the Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) has many guest lecturers worried. Ponmudy’s statement that up to 15 marks would be given to guest lecturers in interview does little to allay their fear.
“At this age, clearing a written test is going to be difficult for us. We have to compete with candidates much younger than us. The minister has announced weightage for us in an interview, but we will be eligible for that only if we pass the written test,” said a guest lecturer who did not want to be identified. Over 5,000 guest lecturers working in 163 government arts and science colleges are spending sleepless nights worrying about their job.
“If we fail to qualify in the exam, we will be thrown out of the job after recruitment of permanent faculties. We worked hard all these years for just Rs 20,000 a month with the hope that we will be made permanent one day, but now the government is being unfair to us,” said another guest lecturer working in a government college in Chennai.
President of TN All Government UGC Qualified Guest Lecturer Association V Thangaraj said around 3,000 of the 5,380 guest lecturers are over the age of 40. Most spent over 15 years working for a pittance. Fifteen guest lecturers died during the Covid-19 pandemic. “After all this, writing a recruitment test or finding another job at this age is going to be a Herculean task for us.”