This story is from November 21, 2014

Without pay for 18 months, teachers to teach students about government's failures

Going without pay for past 18 months, the teachers of as many as 172 affiliated colleges in Punjab have decided to 'teach' students about the 'ineffectiveness' of state government towards educations and 'guru's in their own classrooms before taking to roads on November 25th .
Without pay for 18 months, teachers to teach students about government's failures
AMRITSAR: Going without pay for past 18 months, the teachers of as many as 172 affiliated colleges in Punjab have decided to 'teach' students about the 'ineffectiveness' of state government towards educations and 'guru's in their own classrooms before taking to roads on November 25th .
While talking to TOI on Friday, general secretary of Punjab and Chandigarh college teachers union Professor HS Walia said "This is last resort with us, teachers also need money to meet their families expenses, we have decided to tell students in their classrooms about the anti-education, anti-students and anti-teachers policies of the government ".
He said colleges were unable to pay salaries to teachers due to non release of grant meant for payment of salaries from May 2013 onward.
"Colleges are liquidating their savings in form of fix deposits and teachers are borrowing money to live" he said. President of the Union Professor Kuldip Singh said "Ask us which door we have not knocked, we returned empty-handed from everywhere". He said as a result the teachers and the colleges had been trapped into vicious cycle of debt and about 75 percent of the colleges were on the brink of closure. Walia said the government had also put a ban on recruitment's in 2005.
"Presently 60 per cent of the total posts of the teaching and non teaching staff are lying vacant in the state" he said. He said in absence of government salary grants, the colleges were appointing teachers on ad hoc basis on meager salaries but only after compromising on quality of education. He said to put pressure upon state government and attract its attention they had decided to hold a state level rally at Chandigarh on November 25th. "If our plights went unheard then we will chalk out a massive agitation course there and then" he said.
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