Sir,
After the completion of my PhD I had two options either to go for post doc or to look for a job. The former option was deferred as I got appointed as a contractual lecturer in my home state of Jammu and Kashmir. The terms and conditions on which I along with 2500 others joined different colleges seemed acceptable if not satisfactory. However, on 23rd August the department of higher education of the newly created UT issued an order (HE-472) which totally altered the terms and conditions and the basis for deciding the remuneration. The order envisages giving Salary on hourly basis and the number of lectures delivered. This implies that on holidays or no class work days or when the syllabus has been completed we will be rendered jobless. The remuneration has been fixed @500/lecture which is one third of the remuneration fixed by the UGC.
The order keeps many things vague viz, who will perform various duties other than teaching such as extracurricular activities, internal assessment administrative work etc, which were till now performed by contractual lecturers. The order leaves many important things at the principal’s discretion which may lead to abuse of power, favouritism and nepotism. The department has ridiculously cited a supreme court doctrine of “No work no pay” for justifying this order whereas the doctrine of “equal pay for equal work has been absurdly omitted. It should also be noted that the monthly remuneration of a contract lecturer in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir is less than the scholarship provided to PhD scholar by UGC and CSIR. The order is also against the most recent iteration of the new education policy (NEP) 2019. The 55 page long document having 4 chapters aims to “reinstate” teacher as the most respectable member of the society.
As pointed out by Prof. Amitabh Matoo (JNU) in one of his editorial piece this goal can only be achieved by ensuring the livelihood, respect, dignity and autonomy of the teacher. The prime Minister and the home minister have been consistently boasting about abrogation of article 370 and paving way for Jammu and Kashmir’s development with special focus on the youth of the UT. On the contrary the highly qualified youth (NET, SLET, PhD etc) are being kept below par as compared to the contractual lecturers of other union territories and States such as Delhi, Chandigarh, Haryana etc. The new order is not only a breach of contract but discriminatory in nature leading to harassment and humiliation of the contract lecturers. On behalf of the contractual lecturers I request the Lieutenant Governor and Advisor higher education to revoke the Order 472-HE of 2019 and provide relief to the already exploited contract lecturers.
A contractual Lecturer
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