Bisma Bhat
Srinagar, Nov 28: A major controversy has erupted after Jammu and Kashmir government re-designated contractual lecturers as guest faculty in a bid to do away with the monthly remuneration.
Under the new policy, the guest faculty will be paid as per the lectures delivered in different colleges of the Union Territory.
Higher Education Department has issued an order stating that lecturers appointed on one year contract, will now be re-designated as need based lecturers and paid Rs 500 per lecture. The order restrains them from performing duties, which include extra-curriculum activities, sports, conducting examination, internal assessments and evaluation.
The order has sent shock waves through the highly educated people across the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
“The guest faculty from the academic arrangement list will get a call for delivering lectures in the respective colleges where there is dearth of permanent faculty. The number of lectures has been restricted to three per day. For every lecture we will be paid Rs 500. Further Rs 100 will also be given as travel allowances to a lecturer if he or she has to travel from another district,” said one of the lecturers at Anantnag Degree College.
The contract period of guest faculty would be for one year. Every year, candidates shall have to undergo the same procedure for landing a new contract.
Every year, sources said, authorities appoint around 2500 contractual lecturers as per the requirement in the colleges. Contractual lecturers, who have qualified National Eligibility Test (NET), were paid Rs 28000 per month while others were paid Rs 22000. Their salaries were enhanced in 2018 from Rs 18000 for NET qualifiers and Rs 12000 for others.
Earlier, University Grants Commission (UGC) had directed higher educational institutes across the country to pay Rs 1,500 per lecture to guest faculty members. As per a notification issued last year, the UGC asked institutes to double the upper ceiling of monthly payment to Rs 50,000.
Speaking to The Kashmir Monitor, Secretary Higher Education, Talat Pervaiz Rohella, said: “We appoint the lecturers as need basis as per the academic arrangement requirement. We need to see the teaching load as per the UGC guidelines.”
