THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Ranchi, May 31: Pushed to the wall, Jharkhand Raksha Shakti University contractual faculties today wrote an open letter to various authorities, seeking a fair and just solution to their problems.
They have not been paid for the past three months and many faculties are from other states and their survival is hugely dependent on the salary that they receive.
Contractual faculties seek Governor’s intervention
Seeking the intervention of the Governor as well as the chief minister, the 14 contractual faculties have said, “Teaching is a noble profession, but we are treated like criminals.”
What are their problems?
Narrating their plight, they pointed out that every year they face the interview to be recruited as Contractual Faculty after completion of 11 months and in the process, many are removed with another set of faculties without any proper reason being given to them.
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“We are yet to receive any official order from the University regarding our salary calculation. There is a lack of consensus on how our salary will be calculated. This has led to us faculties being deprived of our rightful entitlement of salaries for the last three months,” they have said.
“There is no clarity or SOP yet, and we have filled more than 5 types of formats of Teacher Progress Report to date for our salary,” they said.
They have to complete 16 classes irrespective of holidays every week
“During our discussion with the university authorities in March, we were told that the week that has gazetted holidays, our salary will not be deducted from the number of working days. Now it’s being rejected, and we are told every week we have to complete 16 classes irrespective of holidays. This discrepancy is causing distress and uncertainty among us and affecting our mental health and livelihood,” said a faculty requesting anonymity.
“Moreover, we are being paid a meagre sum of Rs 900 per hour, which is far less than the UGC-approved and mandated rate of Rs 1500 per class,” said the faculty.
Treated and tried like bonded labourers
“For any administrative work that is assigned to us, we have to get approval from CO-Examinations and Registrar for our salary as if designing and preparing question papers and checking answer scripts are not part of our KRA. We are being treated and tried like bonded labourers,” they have said in the letter.
Only 5 permanent faculties
They have further said there are 28 positions sanctioned for permanent staff recruitment by the commission still only 5 positions have been filled up by the year 2022 and no recruitment has been done thereafter.
“We are time and again discriminated against permanent faculties, and there is a solid reason to believe that few permanent faculties did not have the requisite qualifications to be appointed as permanent staff. A proper investigation should be done around this,” they said.
“So, the Governor, who is our chancellor, should take cognizance of the same, and the CM should also take the right steps in this direction. If the teachers have to come out to protest imagine how it shall impact the students,” they said.
