Pay hike is unfair: College teachers

Though the state government on Tuesday announced the implementation of the sixth pay recommendations for the teachers of universities and colleges across the state, college teachers in the city have expressed their disappointment at the announcement.

According to the announcement, lecturers will now get salary in the pay band of Rs9,300-Rs3,4800 while earlier it was Rs8,000-Rs13,500; lecturers (senior scale) will get Rs15,600-Rs39,100 (earlier it was Rs10,000-Rs15,200); lecturers (selection grade) and readers will get Rs15,600-Rs39,100 (earlier it was Rs12,000-Rs18,300); professors and principals (senior scale) will get Rs39,400-Rs67,000 (earlier they were getting Rs16,400-Rs22,400), and principals will get Rs15,600-Rs39,100 (earlier it was Rs12,000-Rs18,300).

College teachers say the implementation hasn’t been done according to the guidelines of the sixth pay commission. They said that the hike in the salary should have been more than what the state government has offered.

“The government’s decision is unjustifiable and highly unfair towards them,” said  Prof KS Shastri, president, Gujarat State Teachers Association, and secretaries, Devendra Solanki and JS Prajapati in a joint letter.

They went on to say that the government should have produced a better package than the current one as “it is clearly an insult” to their financial needs.