AP contract faculty seek revision of GO to suit UGC norms

Vijayawada: While the Andhra Pradesh government has issued a GO enhancing the remuneration for contract teaching faculty in state universities, the faculty members are not happy and are seeking its modification. It said the contract faculty satisfying the minimum eligibility criteria set by UGC/ AICTE/ NCTE/ BCI and other statutory bodies shall be paid Rs 35,000 per month at the entry-level. Those who possess a PhD as an additional qualification over and above the minimum eligibility criteria may be paid an additional amount of Rs 5,000 per month from the date of acquiring the additional qualification or from the date of joining, whichever is the latest. Accordingly, as per UGC regulations, a PG degree with NET/SLET or a PhD is the minimum eligibility criteria for the faculty. The AP universities contract assistant professors association state president Dr Malli Bhaskar said, “We want the GO to be modified to have the additional amount of Rs 5,000 paid to those who got PhD as per UGC norms, 2009, even if they are not having additional qualifications like NET/SLET/SET.” On the other hand, the contract faculty may be given an annual increment of Rs 1,000 for every year of continuous service in the university so far irrespective of whether or not there were nominal break periods.