Aided college faculty writes an open letter to CM demanding CAS benefits; college teachers protest at Directorate of Collegiate Education

A faculty member of a government-aided college in Chennai has written an open letter to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister demanding grant of promotions and pay benefits under Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) pending for over five years, even as faculty members of various government-aided colleges in the State started a continuous sit-in protest at the Directorate of Collegiate Education on Thursday.

In his letter, J. Sulaiman, a member of Association of University Teachers (AUT) and president of New College Staff Association, stated that CAS benefits were partially extended to a few teachers in Coimbatore and Thanjavur regions. A few faculty members approached the courts and obtained their benefits through court rulings. However, a majority of faculty members were looking towards the Chief Minister to ensure that social justice was upheld, Prof. Sulaiman wrote.

Tamil Nadu government’s G.O. No. 5 (Higher Education Department) issued on January 11, 2021 made provisions to implement CAS for government and aided colleges. Subsequently, the benefits were extended to government colleges but not to aided colleges.

The protesting faculty members, meanwhile, stated that due to the denial of CAS benefits to aided college teachers, they were unable to enroll additional research scholars thus denying at least 1,000 economically disadvantaged rural students from obtaining PhD degrees. The teachers, under the banners of AUT and MUTA (Madurai Kamaraj, Manonmaniam Sundaranar, Mother Teresa, and Alagappa University Teachers’ Association), criticised what they called discriminatory practice against one set of teachers although they worked under the same education system.