In what could bring cheers to the university teachers, the UGC-Pay Review Committee on Friday recommended a whopping over 70 per cent pay hike with additional allowances and new positions to academics.
The committee, headed by G K Chadha, on Friday submitted its report to the UGC chairman Sukhadeo Thorat.
As per the recommendations, at the entry level, a faculty member will join as an assistant professor, not as a lecturer as earlier, and his new pay band will be between Rs 15,600 to Rs 39,100. The teacher at the entry level will be entitled for a grade pay of Rs 6,600. At present, a lecturer's pay scale is between Rs 8,000 to Rs 13,500.
For assistant professor, assistant professor (senior scale) and assistant professor (senior grade), the pay band will between Rs 15,600 to Rs 39,100 while the grade pay will vary, Chadha told reporters in New Delhi.
A teacher will be entitled for annual increment of three per cent of the basic salary with compounding effect. Certain teachers with good performance record can get four per cent annual increment.
Similarly, the committee has recommended a new band pay between Rs 37,400 to Rs 67,000 for professor against the existing scale of Rs 16,400 to Rs 22,400.
"We have recommended more that 70 per cent hike in the scale of pay for various posts. For certain posts, the proposed hike is more than 90 per cent," Chadha said.
The hike would benefit more than 500,000 teachers in over 400 universities and over 6,000 colleges in the country.
As per the recommendations, a vice chancellor will get a fixed amount of Rs 80,000 per month against the present package of Rs 25,000.
The committee has recommended introduction of new positions like senior associate professor, senior professor and professor of eminence.
Professors of eminence are expected to be experts on their subjects concerned and their package will at par with that of the vice-chancellors.
"This has been done to ensure that teachers do not languish after achieving a particular level," Chadha said.
The committee has also suggested new nomenclatures for various teaching posts. At the entry level, a faculty member will join as assistant professor, not as a lecturer as earlier while for readers, the new designation will be associate professors.
At college level, a principal will be entitled for a package of a professor, ranging between Rs 37,400 to Rs 67,000 per month against the current package between Rs 12,000 to Rs 22,400, he said.
The recommendations will also cover librarians and director (physical education).
"This package would attract more people to join the profession of teaching and do not quit," Chadha said.
The University Grants Commission will meet on October seven and eight to discuss the recommendations.
"We will forward the recommendation to the government by October nine after conducting discussions at our level. The government will have ample time to implement it," Thorat said.
The committee has recommended five advanced increments instead of present four to a Ph.D degree holder at the time of recruitment as assistant professor.
Apart from the existing allowances, the committee has suggested for introduction of academic allowance of Rs 1500 per month for assistant professor, assistant professor (senior scale) and assistant professor (selection grade).
Besides, the teachers will be entitled for, among others, allowances towards house rent, transport, special duty, travelling and medical expenses.
The committee suggested that the Centre should provide 100 per cent assistance for the additional expenditure to be borne for implementing the recommendations for five years. The assistance can be extended up to 50 per cent of the expenditure to those states which would implement the recommendations successfully in toto, Chadha said.
All the recommendations should be implemented in toto with effect from January one, 2006. However, the allowances excepting DA will be admissible with effect from September one, 2008, he said.
The committee said institutions should fill the vacant posts on urgent basis and the ban on recruitment should be lifted immediately.
About contract teachers, the committee has said such teachers should be appointed when there is a dire necessity and their qualification and procedure of selection should be same as for a regular teacher.
The age of retirement should be 65 years and teachers may be reappointed on contract basis after superannuation upto the age of 70 years.
As the package would be increased, the teachers will be expected to do a better job to justify the new pay structure.
A teacher must spend five hours a day for five days in a week in the institution, Chadha said.
There will be multi-source evaluation system for judging the performance of university teachers. They are self assessment, assessment by students and assessment by the academic heads.
There will be several assessment parameters like regularity in classroom teaching, holding tutorials, availability to students for consultation, participating in faculty meetings, guiding and carrying out research and participating in academic activities like seminar.
The eligibility for assistant professorship will be qualifying NET/SET examinations. However, those posses Ph.D degrees will be exempted from NET/SET qualifications, he said.
The committee, which was constituted on September seven last year, was given one month extension last month.
The committee visited about 400 universities across the country and discussed various dimensions relating to the pay structure before arriving these recommendations.
