Guest lecturers say they didn't get pay for eight months

The Karnataka State Government First Grade Colleges Guest Lecturers’ Association will have a meeting next week, following which a decision will be taken on their further course of action to get their grievances redressed.

The association has been repeatedly approaching the government with their issues,
but to no avail.

B Rajashekaramurthy, president of the association, said over the last eight months, none of the guest lecturers has got salary and that they had to resort to other part time jobs to make ends meet.

“Most of us have families. We are not able to depend on this income. Some of us take private tutorials and some others serve as security guards,” he added. Rajashekaramurthy said the problem persisted for several years now.

“We have submitted several memorandums to the government. We have gone on strike. Yet the government seems to be deaf to our concerns.”

Rajashekaramurthy said in all, there were 451 govt first grade colleges where 14,650 guest lecturers were employed. Of these, 6,000 were women. He said they had received no pay hike.

“For the past 10 years, the government is paying guest lecturers only between Rs 10,000 and Rs 12,000 a month. Even this is not paid regularly. We get our pay only once in six months,” Rajashekaramurthy said. The association has demanded that their pay be increased to Rs 25,000.

Job security is yet another concern for many. “Most of us have served for over a decade. Why does the government have to make fresh recruitments? It can give us permanent jobs instead,” he said, adding that they had better experience.

The association will hold a state-level meeting on January 18, following which they will take a decision on approaching the chief minister.