PUTA seems to have lost its sheen in less than two months; many members overruled their ‘boycott the exams’ protest
Kanwar Inder singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ December 19,2023
Punjabi University teachers had unanimously elected their association, Punjabi University Teachers Association (PUTA) in November 2023. The team occupied the office unopposed in the elections.
It seems that in less than two months the teaching community of Punjabi University has rejected the elected PUTA. This comes to fore in the ongoing ‘boycott of exam duty’ announced by the PUTA.
Only the faculty of few departments has shown unity in the boycott of exam duty call given by the PUTA, for not getting their salary in time. Whereas, in contrast, most of the other department faculty members are taking exams as per the university schedule, doing their duty with sincerity, keeping in the mind the future of students’ career by rejecting the boycott call.
These faculty members seems to have preferred their moral, teaching responsibility of conducting the exams against the call of PUTA to boycott the exams.
The question arises: should PUTA resign on moral ground? If PUTA can give a call to boycott exams to raise their voice for an unpaid salary which became due 19 days ago then what kinds of moral pressure can it be under?
The economic crisis at Punjabi University is well known. The university teachers are best positioned to gauge the crisis. As insiders they know the balance in the university account as many faculty members are occupying the administrative posts.
PUTA seems to have lost its sheen in less than two months; many members overruled their ‘boycott the exams’ protest . As per available information, the university authorities have repeatedly explained the reason behind the delay and assured them that the salary will be disbursed as soon as the grant is received from the state government.
Students said, ” its their problem with the university. We have paid the fees. Why the teachers are playing with our future, career? We are preparing for our semester exams and they are making mockery of the exams.”
“The university has two sources of income; grant by the government and income from the fee, examination and affiliations. None of the income source is secret. Government grants are in public domain. To calculate other sources of income one don’t need to learn rocket science. If there is a mismatch between balance in the account and the salary bill then teachers are the last people who need to be educated about the outcome” said an official on the condition of anonymity.
“University teachers are among the highest paid in the public sector. No regular recruitment has happened in the last ten years. With a minimum service of ten years, all these teachers draw substantial salaries under seventh pay commission which gives enough cushion to deal with a pending salary. This cushion helped them survive larger pendency when they were paid under sixth pay commission. How did the pendency of around three weeks manage to provoke them, give a call to boycott or even disrupt the exams? “ said a non-teaching official of the university. They added that the university is giving priority to contractual employees, class III and IV employees salaries as they are the lesser paid and don’t have enough cushion.
