GUWAHATI: Over 9,000 college teachers in Assam staged protests at their respective colleges, boycotting Teacher’s Day celebrations on Thursday. They accused state govt of not providing promotions with revised salaries on the due date.
They expressed their grievances publicly through coordinated protests across various colleges and sent memorandums to the CM and education minister through local administration.The protesting teachers wore black badges, held protest meetings and voiced their dissatisfaction with state govt, particularly concerning delays and issues related to promotions.
Assam College Teachers’ Association (ACTA) president Jayanta Baruah said, “ACTA has boycotted Teacher’s Day celebration and are protesting for solution of various issues, including error in due date and date of effect of promotion and amendment of Office Memorandum issued on 8.11.2023 (issued by state higher education department), which is contrary to the policy of University Grants Commission (UGC). This OM was for promotion but not as per UGC regulation.”
ACTA demanded that assistant professors whose promotions were due on or before November 7, 2023, but could not undergo screenings for promotion due to various reasons, should be allowed to apply for promotions as per the previous OM issued by UGC, dated November 13, 2013.
The state higher education department had released an Office Memorandum (OM) for Maintenance of Quality Mandate concerning the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) Promotion of Faculty Members (Assistant Professor to Associate Professor) with effect from November 8, 2023. While ACTA appreciated efforts made by the Higher Education Department to enhance the quality of education, they expressed concern over several points requiring immediate action.
ACTA demands that assistant professors whose promotions were due on or before November 7, 2023, but could not undergo screenings for promotion due to various reasons should be allowed to apply for promotions as per the previous OM issued by UGC, dated November 13, 2013.
“That sir, due to inordinate delay in the government mechanism, many college teachers have not attained CAS promotion to the next stage even several years after promotion falling due to them. In the event of the new OM being implemented with immediate effect, most of the teachers whose promotion is due would not be able to fulfil the Ph.D. requirement for promotion to the level of Associate Professor,” read an earlier ACTA memorandum sent to education minister Ranoj Pegu.
“As Govt. of India has started implementing NEP, 2020 about three years after announcement of the policy, we therefore demand that at least a three-year cooling period should be awarded for implementation of the Ph.D. requirement in connection with promotion to Associate Professorship,” it added.
Additionally, ACTA demanded that college teachers whose promotions to Associate Professor are already due but have been delayed due to the government mechanism should be exempted from the Ph.D. requirement entirely.
“We demand that Ph.D. seats in the State Universities be increased and at least 20% of Ph.D. seats be reserved for the in-service college teachers,” they said.
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 encourages research in campuses and urges teachers to obtain Ph.D. degrees. However, current circumstances show that not many college teachers have been awarded guideship, ACTA rued.
Regarding the implementation of the Annual Performance Appraisal Index (APAI) upon attaining Associate Professorship, ACTA urged that instead of making all six quantifiable performance indicators compulsory, options should be given so that teachers can choose a minimum of three out of the six.
They expressed their grievances publicly through coordinated protests across various colleges and sent memorandums to the CM and education minister through local administration.The protesting teachers wore black badges, held protest meetings and voiced their dissatisfaction with state govt, particularly concerning delays and issues related to promotions.
Assam College Teachers’ Association (ACTA) president Jayanta Baruah said, “ACTA has boycotted Teacher’s Day celebration and are protesting for solution of various issues, including error in due date and date of effect of promotion and amendment of Office Memorandum issued on 8.11.2023 (issued by state higher education department), which is contrary to the policy of University Grants Commission (UGC). This OM was for promotion but not as per UGC regulation.”
ACTA demanded that assistant professors whose promotions were due on or before November 7, 2023, but could not undergo screenings for promotion due to various reasons, should be allowed to apply for promotions as per the previous OM issued by UGC, dated November 13, 2013.
The state higher education department had released an Office Memorandum (OM) for Maintenance of Quality Mandate concerning the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) Promotion of Faculty Members (Assistant Professor to Associate Professor) with effect from November 8, 2023. While ACTA appreciated efforts made by the Higher Education Department to enhance the quality of education, they expressed concern over several points requiring immediate action.
ACTA demands that assistant professors whose promotions were due on or before November 7, 2023, but could not undergo screenings for promotion due to various reasons should be allowed to apply for promotions as per the previous OM issued by UGC, dated November 13, 2013.
“That sir, due to inordinate delay in the government mechanism, many college teachers have not attained CAS promotion to the next stage even several years after promotion falling due to them. In the event of the new OM being implemented with immediate effect, most of the teachers whose promotion is due would not be able to fulfil the Ph.D. requirement for promotion to the level of Associate Professor,” read an earlier ACTA memorandum sent to education minister Ranoj Pegu.
“As Govt. of India has started implementing NEP, 2020 about three years after announcement of the policy, we therefore demand that at least a three-year cooling period should be awarded for implementation of the Ph.D. requirement in connection with promotion to Associate Professorship,” it added.
Additionally, ACTA demanded that college teachers whose promotions to Associate Professor are already due but have been delayed due to the government mechanism should be exempted from the Ph.D. requirement entirely.
“We demand that Ph.D. seats in the State Universities be increased and at least 20% of Ph.D. seats be reserved for the in-service college teachers,” they said.
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 encourages research in campuses and urges teachers to obtain Ph.D. degrees. However, current circumstances show that not many college teachers have been awarded guideship, ACTA rued.
Regarding the implementation of the Annual Performance Appraisal Index (APAI) upon attaining Associate Professorship, ACTA urged that instead of making all six quantifiable performance indicators compulsory, options should be given so that teachers can choose a minimum of three out of the six.
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