KOCHI: The Kerala Private College Teachers’ Association (KPCTA) has withdrawn its call for a strike and Secretariat march scheduled for June 29. The decision to not go ahead with the strike comes after the government issued an order re-establishing the PG weightage system that had been in vogue earlier.
KPCTA state general secretary U Abdul Kalam said even the new order was not flawless, though. “The government in its earlier directives, which were issued as circulars and not GOs, had frozen the weightage system prescribed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in colleges conducting PG courses. The situation had been dire for the past two years and the jobs of around 2,000 teachers in various colleges in the state had come under threat. KPCTA had even observed ‘Black Day’ in protest against the government’s unfair move,” he said.
As per UGC norms, the direct teaching-learning process hours should be 16 hours for assistant professor and 14 hours for the associate professor or professor.“But in the new circular, the government has changed it to 16 hours for both the posts. The new order has increased the direct teaching-learning process hours for new posts from six hours to eight hours. The ban on new appointments has also not been lifted. This will lead to the loss of many posts and as a result, the job opportunities for aspirants,” said Kalam. He said KPCTA has demanded the government to rectify existing anomalies and issue legally valid orders.
“We have also demanded the creation of professor posts in colleges and immediate steps to restart the process of promoting assistant professors. If there is no positive move on the government’s part to solve the issues, KPCTA will launch a stir,” said Kalam.