JOIN USA group of MLCs and members of the Karnataka Pre-university Lecturers’ Association on Thursday met chief secretary K Ratnaprabha and urged her to withdraw the circular on the calendar of events for commencement of PU classes.
MLCs Marithibbegowda, K T Srikantegowda, Sharanappa Mattur and Ramesh Babu, following a meeting, said that they submitted a letter to the chief secretary to take back the circular.
Stating that the leaves were cut down by over a month, they said that this is a denial of basic rights of lecturers. “This not only affects the performance of the lecturers, but also brings down their morale” they said in a memorandum.
The representatives said that lecturers have been continuously involved in several duties from the start of examinations, evaluations and elections due to which they have been unable to take a break from work. “Last year, even October holidays were cut short to 15 days,” they said in the memorandum.
The association members had on also sat on a protest on April 30 and many boycotted classes on day one (Wednesday). The association has requested the principal secretary of the department to also be considerate about the prevailing weather conditions in parts of north Karnataka.
Thimmaiah Purle, president of the association, claimed that close to 25,000 lecturers have not reported to duty. “In most places, the lecturers had to report as the higher-ups in college exerted pressure on them,” he added. They will continue the same till a decision is taken on the calendar of events.