Bhubaneswar: Teachers of state-run universities began their protest Thursday demanding implementation of the Seventh University Grants Commission (UGC) pay scales, and enhance the retirement age from 60 to 65 like their Central counterparts.
The teachers belonging to the Federation of University Teachers Association (FOUTA) wore black badges as a mark of protest. FOUTA Convener Santosh Tripathy said they would wear the badges till November 9.
He said that although many states have raised the retirement age of university teachers from 60 to 65, the Odisha government is yet to do it.
“We request the state government to follow UGC norms and best practices and consider our demands,” he added.
Tripathy said the state faces an acute shortage of university teachers and guides for PhD scholars. The increase in the retirement age of teachers will partly solve the teacher and research guide shortage, he added.
The teachers also demanded that the government should increase their salaries as per the 2016 recommendations of the UGC.
“After approving the Seventh UGC pay scales, the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development had sent it for implementation by states. Odisha started the process, but it has not been implemented,” they added.
“If the state government does not accept our demands, we will stage a one-hour relay dharna every day during lunch hour in universities between November 12 and 17. Later, we will organise a mass rally from OUAT to Raj Bhawan November 19 and a candlelight march November 26 from Ram Mandir to Lower PMG,” Tripathy added.
If the government does not accept our demands, the teachers will start relay hunger strikes and intensify their stir, he warned.
The FOUTA had organised a similar stir between July 23 and August 31 this year.