Stating that the rules do not permit the regularisation of guest lecturers, Higher Education Minister M.C. Sudhakar told the Legislative Council on Tuesday that the government was in the process of appointing 310 principals and 1,208 assistant professors shortly.
“The list of selected principals is ready and verification of selected assistant professors is under way. This will help mitigate the shortage to an extent. We have requested Finance Department to sanction 7,000 teaching posts, including technical posts. Of the total 2,000 assistant professor sanctioned posts, 1,208 are being filled,” he said, participating in a debate initiated by the Opposition seeking the regularisation of guest lecturers and providing them with job security.
Both BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) members earlier said that the recent hike of salaries to guest lecturers was insufficient. “The guest lecturers are paid only for about seven to eight months. The recruitment process is normally delayed that affects teaching,” BJP member D.S. Arun said. JD(S) members S.L. Bhoje Gowda and Marithibbe Gowda along with BJP member S.V. Sankanur said that the rules do not prevent regularisation as guidelines can be laid down and recruitment can be taken up. They also said that despite the recent hike, their salaries remained low.