BANGALORE: Frustrated by the Government's alleged indifference to their long-pending demands, teachers in the State may take to the streets again. This was apparently the undercurrent of a seminar on degree education organised here by the Federation of University and College Teachers Association of Karnataka.

Thousands of teachers outside the University Grants Commission (UGC) pay scales were languishing in colleges, existing on paltry salaries of about Rs. 2,500 a month. They often had workloads equalling that of the UGC scale teachers but were grossly underpaid. Talks with the government had failed and teachers could not keep quite for long, association president A.M. Narahari said.

Recommendations

He alleged that hurdles were being placed before teachers "very systematically." Several recommendations by expert panels on improving the stock of teachers were not considered, and the Government constantly held out threats to privatise education. "We cannot keep quiet and sit in negotiations," he said

Attracting talent

Low salaries, unfilled teaching posts and lack of grants to degree colleges, all these had contributed to a sharp fall in interest for teaching as a profession. The Government had to attract the best talent towards the profession, failing which it would face a severe crisis soon, Mr. Narahari said.

With innovative teaching methods such as online classrooms, the role of the teacher was getting undermined. But as Prof. Narahari put it, the conventional, traditional methods were still relevant today and the teacher could never be replaced. Education, he said, was not teacher-centric or student-centric as the IT crowd believed. Education was actually knowledge-centric, and that required the teacher.

`Unimaginative'

For theatre person, artiste and a veteran teacher G.K. Govinda Rao, bifurcation meant many Ph.D. and M.Phil holders had to teach only Pre-University students.

Dubbing the Government's decisions unimaginative, Prof. Rao drew attention to the scores of teachers continuing for years as temporary lecturers even in aided colleges. The Government cared little for college education, he said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail