More than 50,000 teachers have decided to boycott university and college exams from Monday.
Examination work across state universities and colleges will be hampered from Monday owing to the statewide agitation of over 50,000 teachers. Starting from Monday, teachers across colleges and universities departments will be boycotting all examination related work.
The teachers will also abstain from setting questionnaires, charting timetables and conducting practical tests as well as theory examination for university as well as college exams. The Maharashtra Federation of College and University Teachers Organization (MFUCTO) has called for the statewide boycott after the state government failed to meet their long-pending demands.
“If there is no conduct of exams, then the question of assessment does not arise. This time, the number of teachers participating in the agitation has gone up as contract teachers are also joining our agitation over their demands,” said Madhu Paranjape, secretary of the Bombay University and College Teachers Union (BUCTU), which is also joining the stir.
This year, the agitation will have a huge far-reaching impact with teachers boycotting even the conduct of exams at college and university level. The decision was taken in a meeting on January 13.
A 13-point charter of demands was submitted to chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, governor K Sankaranarayanan and the higher and technical education department in January. A copy of the charter has been submitted to the Mumbai University too by the local union, BUCTU.
The key demands include regularizing the NET/SET affected teachers appointed between 1991 and 2000 and also the payment of 80% arrears under the Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations.
Last year, college and university teachers had boycotted exams and crippled evaluation work. Several universities, including Mumbai, had turned to contract teachers and those hired on an ad hoc basis for evaluation work. The teachers had resumed work after the state government promised to pay them the cash component of their arrears in two instalments-Rs 436 crore was to be sanctioned in June 2012 and the second instalment of the same amount was to be given in April 2013. The government is yet to keep its word.
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