Contractual teachers demand release of pending salaries, job policy

JK College Contractual Teachers addressing press confernece in Srinagar. —Excelsior/Shakeel
JK College Contractual Teachers addressing press confernece in Srinagar. —Excelsior/Shakeel

Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Aug 17: Jammu and Kashmir College Contractual Teachers Association (JKCCTA) today said that they have been subjected to outmost humiliation by the Higher Education Department by time and again not paying due attention to their issues.
It was said during a press conference held by the Association in which the spokesperson of JKCCTA, Dr Muhammad Iqbal Rather said they (the contractual teachers) who have kept the skeleton of the higher education standing from last 20 years and have worked at par with the permanent faculty.
The Association said that their pending salaries from August last year till March this year have not been released and that they have been given two months of their salaries from March this year and the rest is lying pending.
“Despite this, the Department has never paid any attention to address our genuine demands of regularization/ job policy, which is our right,” he said.
He said that the department is hell-bent to ruin the future of the highly qualified lot as most of the candidates working in the department have crossed the upper age limit or are at the verge of getting over-aged.
He lamented and said that the long span of “thankless” service to the department has never been less than a nightmare to them. “The department has used every means to harass and humiliate us; whenever we approach the authorities, we are handed with false promises and hopes,” he said.
He said that they have worked for mere Rs 5000 and their salaries were enhanced back in 2018 from Rs 12000 to Rs 22000 and Rs 18000 to Rs 28000, “…but here, we are forced to live without salaries for months and years together,” he said.
The spokesperson appealed the LG, Manoj Sinha and the Advisor, Higher Education K.K. Sharma and all the concerned to take a personal interest in resolving the issues faced by the contractual teachers.
He said that our services must be continued without any interruption until the Government comes up with a concrete road map and a job policy. “It is also requested that our pending salaries be released at the earliest,” he said.