Jadavpur University teachers demand revised UGC pay scale, hold unique protest

Majority of the teachers of Jadavpur University held a unique protest Thursday to press for their demand for implementation of revised UGC pay scale - they narrated their plight to the parents of students seeking admission into the engineering streams. The teachers, who are members of Jadavpur University Teachers Association (JUTA), also handed out pamphlets listing their demands to the parents and the students.

The teachers are demanding implementation of the 2016 University Grants Commission(UGC) pay scale. "Besides fulfilling our duties of teaching, we take part in the admission process, placement drives and help the non-teaching staff to ensure the smooth functioning of the university. Still, our pay scale is not getting upgraded," a JUTA member said.

The protest was planned during a meeting on Wednesday, he said. "We will continue to reach out to the students and their parents who come seeking for admission in science and humanities faculties and stage a sit-in in the campus on July 18. We are planning to invite West Bengal College and University Teachers' Association members to the sit-in if our demands are not met," he said.

The stir would be intensified if their demands are not met by July 18, the JUTA member said adding the teacher's body would first cease all non-teaching work, then boycott classes and sit on an indefinite hunger strike. The teachers alleged that the West Bengal government is dilly-dallying over the implementation of the revised pay scale though most of the other states have done it.

JUTA is planning to write to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi and Education Minister Partha Chatterjee over the issue, the teachers said. It has also demanded that elections to the university students' council and other statutory bodies be held.

Sambuddha Roy, father of an engineering candidate Saraswat Roy said, "We support the demands of the teachers and we hope that the issue gets resolved at the earliest so that classes are not disrupted." Vice-chancellor Suranjan Das when contacted said he has nothing to comment at the moment.

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