Despite hike in honorarium, guest lecturers to continue protest

A day after the state government offered a 'generous' Sankranti gift with a three-fold hike in honorarium, the guest lecturers have decided to continue their agitation over the decision to increase their workload from 8 hours to 15 hours.

The protesting guest lecturers are of the opinion that nearly 50% of them would lose jobs due to enhanced workload.

The members of the Karnataka Guest Faculties Association told DH, "Currently with the eight hours of workload, around 14,000 faculties are working as guest lecturers and if the government implements 15 hours of workload, then at least 7,000 of them will lose jobs."

They even pointed out another demand which was not considered by the committee constituted by the state government.

"Government has not considered our demand for job security till we attain the age of 60 years," added members.

Also read: Karnataka govt announces doubling salary of guest lecturers in colleges

Meanwhile, the protesting faculties mentioned the Finance Department's rejection to increase the honorarium paid to them every year by 3%. "We will not return to work until the government considers our demands and revises the 15-hour workload," they stated.

The agitating lecturers said that the intention of their protest was not to get a hike in the honorarium. They wanted their jobs regularised and urged the state government to follow suit of the West Bengal government.

The guest faculties have been boycotting classes for the last month.

On Friday, Higher Education Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan announced a three-fold increase in the honorarium paid to the guest faculties. With this those who were getting an honorarium of Rs 11,000 per month will henceforth receive Rs 26,000, and those drawing Rs 13,000 will be paid Rs 32,000.

Meanwhile, the department of a college education is launching a portal inviting applications from the eligible guest faculties for the current academic year.

Minister urges teachers to withdraw agitation

Higher education minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan has appealed to the protesting guest faculties to withdraw protest and resume work.

The minister, in a statement issued on Saturday, said, "The government has given a best package for guest faculties and considering the interest of students they must resume work. They should submit applications for 2022-23 academic year in the online portal which will be active from Monday. The portal will be active for a week and those eligible will be considered.