Contract lecturers’ wait for renewal orders goes on

Tirupati : The uncertainty in the continuation of the service of contract lecturers working in government junior colleges in the state has become common every year as it depends on the government’s whim to issue fresh orders. The previous government has given orders to them to continue in service till April 2024. After a one day break, their services are to be renewed again from May 1 which was not done so far due to the change of government.

As such, the contract lecturers were not given salaries for the last three months. In spite of not getting salaries and no clarity on continuation of their service, they have been attending duties with a sence of responsibility and taking class work. The members of Government Junior College Contract Lecturers Association have recently met minister for education Nara Lokesh and appraised him of the situation for which he responded positively.

In junior colleges across the state, approximately 3,800 contract faculty are employed. In the former Chittoor district, there are over 500 contract faculty compared to about 130 regular faculty members. The newly-established Tirupati district has around 200 contract faculty. With no regular faculty recruitment in recent years, dependence on contract and guest faculty has been growing annually.

They used to get the service orders only for 10 months in a year which the previous government had changed and started renewing their service once in 12 months with one day break for technical reasons. Every time, they get the orders with some delay but with a retrospective date. This time it was delayed due to elections in May and the government formation in June. Even after that the government has put them in a state of uncertainty much to their anguish.

A contract faculty on condition of anonymity told The Hans India that their families were suffering from a financial crunch as they did not get their salaries for three months now. They faced many difficulties to pay school fees for their children at the beginning of the academic year. The government was positive in giving the continuation orders and they were seeking to do so without further delay.

He said that several contract lecturers were close to their retirement and still depended on this only though their hopes for regularisation of the services were dashed. They never thought of going to other sectors as they were hopeful of regularisation which the successive governments have never done so far. Before taking a policy decision on this, he hoped that the Minister Nara Lokesh will first ensure the continuation orders for all contract lecturers ending the uncertainty.