Haryana's extension lecturers await regular jobs despite mounting workload

Bijendra Ahlawat

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Faridabad, December 5

As many as 2,098 extension lecturers of government colleges in the state are a disappointed lot as they continue to await regularisation of their jobs and better pay. A delegation of the aggrieved teachers recently submitted a memorandum to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. It is claimed that there are around 150 such teachers in the district.

“The state government has appointed hundreds of extension lecturers to fill the large number of vacancies in government colleges in the past decade. However, the recruitment has proven to be an exploitation of such teachers, who haven’t been regularised despite completing eight to 10 years of continued service,” said a government college teacher.

Alleging discrimination, she said no move has come to bridge the gap between extension lecturers and their regular counterparts in terms of salaries and other benefits. She said there was a huge difference not only in their pay grades, but also work hours.

“Besides receiving no annual increments, an extension lecturer gets a fixed monthly salary of Rs 57,700, which is around 50 to 80 per cent lower than the salary of a regular teacher,” said another teacher based here.

It is claimed that the workload of extension teachers has doubled in the past few years due to deputation assignments but they haven’t received any hike in their salaries since June 2019.

“Failure to extend benefits and regularise extension workers, who share around 70 per cent of the workload and a majority of teaching positions, amounts to injustice under the principle of equal work, equal pay,” said another teacher.

A spokesperson of the Extension Lecturers Association said 94 of the total 134 teachers in Pt Jawaharlal Nehru Government College, Faridabad, were working on extension basis. “Despite heavy workload, they haven’t been granted the benefits of annual increment, DA, HRA and TA,” added the spokesperson.

Dr Renu Yadav, a teacher, said regularisation of these employees would not have any negative impact on the direct recruitment policy as there is an acute shortage of teachers in colleges.

50-80% pay gap

• A Faridabad-based teacher says an extension lecturer gets a fixed monthly salary of Rs 57,700, which is around 50 to 80% lower than the salary of a regular teacher.
• It is further claimed that the workload of extension teachers has doubled in the past few years due to deputation assignments. But they haven’t received any hike in their salaries since June 2019.