Srinagar, May 27: The Teaching Assistants and Lecturers working on academic arrangements in the Government degree colleges across the Valley have urged the State Government to disburse their remuneration every month.
      According to these Teaching Assistants and Lecturers, they are yet to receive a single penny from the Government despite being engaged by the Higher Education department in March this year. 
      “I joined the college in second week of March and still haven’t received remuneration for any month,” a Teaching Assistant working in a city college told Greater Kashmir. 
      She said the successive regimes have failed to pay the Teaching Assistants and Lecturers regularly, from the year contractualism was established in the Colleges. 
      “Since the contractual system was started in the colleges, those engaged were paid on the festivals of Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha only. Government only pays the wages regularly during the last three months of the academic session. This has now become a bad precedence,” she added.
      Another Teaching Assistant said that his fraternity including Lecturers working on academic arrangements were facing immense hardships due to the indifferent attitude of the Government towards the issue.
      “With government failing to pay the remuneration on time, the Teaching Assistants and Lecturers, who are supporting their families, were finding it immensely difficult to make their two ends meet,” the lecturer said. He said many lecturers of City working in other districts have to shelve out money everyday as travel expenses. 
      He said that despite repeated pleas to the Higher Education minister, Commissioner Secretary Education and other senior functionary in the department, the remuneration issue hasn’t been resolved yet. 
      “We also submitted several representations with the officials, seeking disbursement of salary every month, but our pleas fell on deaf ears. With Government making huge claims about Education being its priority sector, its lackadaisical attitude towards the teaching fraternity belies them,” he said.  
            The Teaching Assistants and Lecturers sought the intervention of Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah in this matter. “We urge the CM to redress our grievance at an earliest,” they added. 

Lastupdate on : Sun, 27 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 27 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 28 May 2012 00:00:00 IST