Guest faculty in Ludhiana colleges for more benefits

They urged the chief minister and finance minister to pay their salaries from the government treasury

While addressing the state-level meeting of the Guest Faculty Assistant Professors’ Association, Punjab here on Sunday, Ravinder Mansa, president of the association, said the guest faculty assistant professors working in the government colleges should get same benefits as are given to part-time assistant professors.

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He further said that though all professors working in government colleges have the same qualifications and responsibilities, the guest faculty are being exploited financially. He added that the future of the 962 guest faculty assistant professors, who have been working on paltry salaries for years, seems to be bleak.

While demanding a better future for these teachers under the ‘Ghar Ghar Rozgar’ programme of the government, he shared that many of these professors have already crossed the eligibility age for new government job recruitment and some of them are even nearing their retirement age.

Earlier, the full salary of these professors used to be paid out of the Parent-Teacher Association fund collected from the students. A few years back, the government started paying 50% of the amount in the form of grant-in-aid. He further added that the PTA fund in most government colleges is already exhausted due to which the guest faculty staff have not got their salaries for months.

They said that paying the whole salary from the treasury won’t put any major economic burden on the budget. By doing this, not only will the guest faculty professors and their families will be able to make ends meet, but the students will also be relieved from the burden of contributing to the PTA fund. The association also demanded that their jobs be saved on priority during the new recruitment drive.