Urdu varsity job notificationrattles assistant professors

Post offered is teaching assistant; ‘salaries will go down further’

The notification put out by Dr. Abdul Haq Urdu University on 19 June to hire teaching assistants has sparked outrage among the assistant professors of the university.

Since the university’s inception in 2016, the practice has been to hire all the teaching staff as assistant professors.

All India Youth Federation State secretary N. Lenin told The Hindu that assistant professors in Rayalaseema University, Kurnool, earn about ₹35,000 per month, and those working in Sri Krishna Devaraya University make ₹35,000 to ₹ 50,000 depending on seniority. In the Urdu university, they are compensated with a measly ₹ 25,000.

The change in designation means lower pay scales, he added.

Expressing resentment over the disparity in the pay scales, one of the assistant professors of Urdu university said, “What we are doing is bonded labour.”

Many are also worried about the consequences of change of designation. “We may not be able to enjoy the benefits of government welfare schemes,” said another assistant professor.

However, the Registrar, Shaheda Akthar, made it clear that the assistant professors are already not eligible for any government scheme as they are hired on a yearly basis.

“Designation change is being done to adhere to government policy,” she added.

Staff crunch

The Urdu university has no professors and associate professors.

It has been managing with only 11 assistant professors for the last three years, though the sanctioned strength is 35 teaching staff..

Ms. Akthar said the previous government did not take any steps to appoint professors. “We are planning to approach the newly formed government in this regard, ” she added.

The university has openings for five professors, and under each professor, there are supposed to be two associate professors and four assistant professors.

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