From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru. Jan 14: The State Government which had consistently assured that guest lecturers' demands would be considered on humanitarian grounds, has come out with many relief measures including hiking the salaries by more than double.
The decisions taken by the government based on the three-member committee will benefit thousands of guest lecturers working in government first-grade colleges.
Hailing Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai for personally taking interest in addressing the demands of guest lecturers, Higher Education Minister Dr CN Ashwatha Narayana, on Friday announced the decisions of the government.
He said the salaries have been raised by more than double the existing.
New 4 Classifications
In a novel strategy, four types of classifications have been formulated to fix the salaries.
Earlier, the guest lecturers were paid a salary of Rs 13,000 per month for those with UGC prescribed eligibility and Rs 11,000 per month for those who do not have UGC prescribed eligibility.
The salaries have been increased from a minimum of Rs 26,000 per month to a maximum of Rs. 32,000 per month.
This includes:
1) Those who have been serving as guest lecturers for more than 5 years possessing UGC prescribed qualification (Rs 32,000/month),
2) Those who have been serving as guest lecturers for less than 5 years with UGC prescribed qualification (Rs 30,000/month),
3) Those who have been serving as guest lecturers for more than 5 years but not having UGC prescribed qualification (Rs 28,000/month) and
4) Those who have been serving as guest lecturers for less than 5 years but not having UGC prescribed qualification (Rs 26,000/month).
In other prominent measures as a relief to the guest lecturers, it has been decided to pay the salaries before the 10th date of every month and to appoint them on the academic year basis (10 months duration) instead of on semester basis as prevailed earlier. The workload of lecturers will be readjusted in cases where there is a shortage of it.
As UGC prescribed eligibility conditions will be made mandatory for recruiting guest faculty in the coming years, 3 year time has been set for guest lecturers to clear the required tests/examinations, Dr Narayana pointed out.
It has been also decided to give weightage to seniority of service while appointing guest lecturers. To ensure this, a selection list will be prepared based on the existing parameters of the department, he said.
Based on the above parameters online portal has been set up and candidates can apply from Janurary17.
Applicants can mention 5 colleges of their choice while submitting applications and they need to submit within 7 days, Dr Narayan said.
The government had constituted a three-member committee headed by Additional Chief Secretary of Higher Education Department on December 15, 2021, and it submitted the report within one month.
The committee had convened meetings on December 28, January 5 and Janurary 12 respectively.
Dr CN Ashwath Narayan, Minister for Higher Education, and Basavaraja Horatti, Chairman of Legislative Council had also conducted meetings during the winter session at Belagavi and later at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru wherein MLCs, representatives from teachers and graduates constituencies, and associations of guest lecturers were present.