Guest profs hold candle march to demand job security

Guest faculty assistant professors at two government colleges held a candle march here on Thursday evening, demanding better job security.

The guest faculty assistant professors of Government College for Girls and SCD College and Government College (East) attended the march and said that they were agitated with the government’s policies.

The leaders of the union explained that in 2021, the previous government had recruited 1,091 professors and 67 librarians. However, due to problems in the recruitment process, the matter was taken to the high court, which cancelled their appointments.

On September 28 this year, the Punjab government hired new regular professors.

The ongoing recruitment of 1,158 these new professors in government colleges across the state has made the situation worse, with the guest faculty fearing they would be replaced by new hires despite their years of service.

“The government should appoint these new professors where there is a real shortage of staff or where the new institutions are being set up, not in place of guest faculty,” said Falwinder Verma, a member of the guest faculty union.

The protesting guest faculty members clarified that they are not against the newly recruited professors.

“Many of these professors have been working in government colleges for years and now they fear job loss as plans are being made to remove them. Some professors are close to retirement and have been working on low salaries for years,” added Falwinder.

The professors had also participated in a statewide protest on October 1, pressing for job security.

They had warned that if the state government fails to address their demands, they will intensify their struggle.

“If we are not allowed to meet chief minister (CM) Bhagwant Mann and the state education minister by October 5, we will march to the chief minister’s residence in Sangrur on October 6,” Falwinder went on to add.