VILLUPURAM: The guest lecturers association in Villupuram on Sunday urged the Tamil Nadu government to allot permanent postings to guest lecturers in the State, as their socio-economic conditions allegedly deteriorate day-by-day. In the past three years, of the nine guest lecturers that passed away in Tamil Nadu due to various reasons, two died by suicide due to factors like irregular pay and work stress, found the association.
The guild's demand comes after a guest lecturer of the Tindivanam Government Arts College's Computer Science department allegedly took his life on August 27 due to financial constraints. The deceased, identified as Kirubakaran, had been working at the institute for the past five years, sources said.
K Saritha, wife of the deceased, told TNIE, "It has been a struggle in the past three years because of low and irregular salaries. It was hard to make ends meet because in the months he was not paid, we took loans from locals and the interest grew triple by the time we were able to repay it. The financial constraints were unbearable." Saritha -- like other family members of guest lecturers -- demands relief to support their families.
The mother of a guest lecturer, who took the extreme step, in Ooty said," The government is responsible for the pressure on guest lecturers. Hence, we need an ex gratia when unfortunate deaths happen on humanitarian grounds."
Speaking to TNIE, V Thanagraj, secretary of UGC Qualified Tamil Nadu Guest Lecturer Association said, "Our demands are basic. Despite having the qualification prescribed by the UGC, over 5000 guest lecturers in the State earn a meagre wage of Rs 20,000 on a contractual position instead of a permanent post. This situation is stressful to them all, affecting their mental health."Amid this, they are not even given a relief fund by the government, he added.
According to official sources, Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy announced that an eligibility entrance test for guest lecturers would be conducted in 2021 but the process for it had not been started. "The current government had also not reacted to our woes and the death by suicides are only increasing. Guest lecturers are finding it difficult to survive with the salary, so we demand action on the issue," stated Thangaraj.
(Assistance for those having suicidal thoughts is available on TN's health helpline 104 and Sneha's suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050)