Maharashtra student body raises plight of non-permanent teachers during Covid-19

The student body claims that many non-permanent teachers have lost jobs as their contracts could not be renewed during the lockdown.

The Maharashtra Students’ Union (MASU) has approached the minister for higher and technical education Uday Samant, requesting him to resolve the predicament of non permanent faculty in colleges in the state, whose suffering has been prolonged due to Covid-19. These visiting faculties are battling loss of jobs and wages due to the lockdown and other restrictions during the pandemic.

The students’ body has asked the Maharashtra government to consider appointing visiting faculty on an 11 month contract basis. (HT Photo Representative)

In a letter addressed to Samant, MASU has highlighted the plight of thousands of teachers whose recruitment or transfer to a permanent role has been stuck due to the situations created by the pandemic.

“Many of these teachers have already cleared the state or the national teacher eligibility test and are qualified to take important roles in colleges but are struggling to make ends meet at the present,” said Siddharth Ingle, president of MASU.

With higher education institutes shut since March this year, many non-permanent teachers have lost jobs as their contracts could not be renewed during the lockdown. At present, lectures are still being conducted virtually, but teachers without a renewed or a new contract, have been left out.

MASU has further shared examples of states like West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Jammu & Kashmir, where visiting faculty are hired on 11-month long contracts to deal with issues including adhocism.

The students groups have requested that until recruitment of teachers does not resume in the state, the government should appoint visiting faculty on an 11 month contract basis and pay them a monthly honorarium of at least Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000.

“Permanent professors are paid anywhere between Rs 65,000- 1 lakh a month while the non-permanent faculty with equal education qualification have not been paid in months. The state education minister needs to address this issue,” added Ingle.