Bangalore University Teachers’ Council (BUTC), SC/ST Teachers’ Association and Non-teaching Staff Association have threatened to boycott classes from Monday till Vice-Chancellor N Prabhu Dev quits and joins the Karnataka Health System Commission (KSHC).
Office bearers of all three associations addressed a press conference at Central College to demand the exit of the VC, which they believe will solve their problems.
“Since his taking over as VC, our problems have not been solved. We are treated as his slaves, which only shows his superiority complex and an attitude of vengeance. We want him out,” said BUTC president C B Honnu Siddhartha.
A collective list of demands of these associations includes regularity in implementation of career advancement scheme, recruitment of fulltime teachers, earned leave encashment, arrangement of guest lectures, implementation of six months PhD course work among others. He added that they will continue to protest as long as the VC is in BU.
“We will stage protests in stages, from boycotts to a full-fledged satyagraha,” said BUTC secretary M Muniraju. Dr Prabhu Dev, who was in Davangere for a programme, said the university staff were welcome to boycott classes.
“I would not like to react to such things. Besides, there is no BUTC or Non-Teaching Association. They have not submitted their accounts,” he told Express.
In a parallel development, around 50 non-teaching staff, postgraduate and PhD students staged a protest in front of the VC’s office with a separate list of demands.
The non-teaching staff, mostly workers in the university’s hostels, demanded a hike in wages.
Registrar (Administration) B C Mylarappa addressed them later and assured that their demands would be placed in the next Syndicate meeting.