Sankranti bonanza to guest lecturers, Salaries doubled

Bengaluru, Jan. 14:  The state government which had consistently assured that guest lecturers’ demands would be considered on humanitarian grounds, has come out with many relief measures including hiking the salaries, said Dr. C. N. Ashwatha Narayana, Minister for Higher Education.

At a press meet at Vidhana Soudha on Friday he said the decisions was taken by the government based on the three-member committee will benefit thousands of guest lecturers working in government first-grade colleges.

Hailing Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai for personally taking interest in addressing the demands of guest lecturers, announced the decisions of the government. He said the salaries have been doubled. In a novel strategy, four types of classifications have been formulated to fix the salaries.
Earlier, the guest lecturers were paid a salary of Rs. 13,000 per month for those with UGC prescribed eligibility and 11,000 per month for those who do not have UGC prescribed eligibility. Now the salaries have been increased from a minimum of Rs 26,000 per month to a maximum of Rs. 32,000 per month.

As UGC prescribed eligibility conditions will be made mandatory for recruiting guest faculty in the coming years, 3 years time has been set for guest lecturers to clear the required tests/examinations, Narayana pointed out.

It has been also decided to give weightage to seniority of service while appointing guest lecturers. To ensure this, a selection list will be prepared based on the existing parameters of the department.

Based on the above parameters online portal has been set up and candidates can apply from Jan 17. Applicants can mention 5 colleges of their choice while submitting applications and they need to submit within 7 days, Narayana told.

The government had constituted a three-member committee headed by ACS of the Higher Education Department on December 15, 2021, and it submitted the report within one month. The committee had convened meetings on Dec 28, Jan 5, and Jan 12.  respectively. Dr.C.N.Ashwatha Narayana, and Basavaraja Horatti, Chairman of Legislative Council had also conducted meetings during the winter session at Belagavi and later at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru wherein MLCs, representatives from teachers and graduates constituencies, and associations of guest lecturers were present.

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