The Hindu : Kerala / Kollam News : Teachers' protest leaves students high and dry

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 15, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Kollam

Teachers' protest leaves students high and dry

By Our Staff Reporter

KOLLAM, JULY 14. Over 1,000 students pursuing part-time B.Tech. course in the State have been left in the lurch as teachers are on an indefinite boycott of classes demanding higher allowance. Part-time B.Tech. courses are conducted at the Government College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, the T.K.M. College of Engineering, Kollam, and the Government College of Engineering, Thrissur, as evening classes.

For a fortnight now, no classes have been held at the Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam colleges. The Thrissur college is also under a similar threat.

The teachers who take classes for the part-time students are the faculty members of the respective colleges. They are being paid Rs. 100 an hour for handling the part-time classes.

However, the teachers are boycotting part-time classes demanding Rs. 300 an hour.

The teachers said that the State Government had assured them in March that their demand would be met by June.

In addition to the B.Tech. course, part-time courses in M.Tech. and MBA are also held in these colleges. The allowance for teachers for the two latter courses is Rs. 125 an hour. The classes are held from 5.45 p.m. to 9 p.m. and on an average, a teacher puts in two hours of teaching daily. The allowance was last revised in 1997.

The students are of the opinion the teachers' demand was reasonable. However, they are worried that if the boycott continues, they would be unable to appear for the semester examinations. It would mean losing a year.

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