Around 100 staff in Calicut University Teacher Education Centres (CUTEC), including principals and teachers, are relieved after the university Syndicate recently decided not to terminate their services in line with the recommendations of the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).
These people have been working in the 11 centres that function directly under the University of Calicut, spread across five districts. The centres are in the self-financing mode and the staff are appointed on one-year contract, renewed every year.
According to the NCTE Regulations, 2014, the principals should have PhDs and the teachers should have M.Ed and clear the University Grants Commission’s National Eligibility Test. The NCTE cancelled the recognition of CUTECs citing issues such as the lack of qualification of principals, last year. The university was earlier supposed to meet all the requirements and file a report to the NCTE by January 29. The date was later extended to March 15.
What led to a confusion was the Syndicate decision in January to appoint principals and teachers “in line with the qualifications prescribed by the NCTE”. The teachers and other staff, who were appointed before 2014, were concerned about their future. It was reported that at least four principals and 28 teachers would have to go. These principals were appointed before 2009 when PhD was not compulsory. Six other principals and 49 teachers could apply afresh to their posts according to the regulations.
K.P. Abdul Azeez, functionary of the Self-Financing College Teachers and Staff Association, said NCTE Regulations of the respective periods had been followed while appointing these staff. Though the regulations were revised later, the authorities had clarified that it would not affect the existing staff. A Syndicate sub-committee had also submitted a report on this. Mr. Azeez said there were teachers who had been working continuously for the past 15 years.
After the association members held a protest march to the university campus on February 15, on a day which the Syndicate also met, the authorities decided to continue the services of the 10 principals and 77 teachers for another year. It was also decided to remove the earlier proposal to appoint principals and teachers in line with the qualifications prescribed by the NCTE.
Mr. Azeez said that if the authorities made any fresh move to terminate their services in the guise of restoring the recognition of the CUTECs, the staff would be forced to launch an agitation.
