PUC lecturers launch protest over pay raise

Just five days before II PUC examinations begin, pre-university lecturers staged a demonstration here on Saturday in protest against the state government’s “failure” to give them the promised double increment.

Nearly 800 members of the Karnataka State Pre-University College Lecturers’ Association were part of the demonstration at Mahatma Gandhi statue at Anand Rao Circle. They have vowed to wear black badges during evaluation of II PUC answer sheets in April to draw the government’s attention to their demands on pay raise and promotion. If that doesn’t work, they will boycott evaluation altogether, said Thimmayya Purle, the president of the association.

The lecturers had protested last year, too, and boycotted the evaluation, delaying the announcement of results. The government promised them two increments but gave just one.

“The government also promised to implement the report of the G Kumar Naik committee on our demands by December. We are still waiting for that. Officials now say no such promise was ever made,” Purle added.