New Delhi: University and college teachers across the country have reacted sharply to the recommendations made by the Pay Review Committee (PRC), formed by the University Grants Commission (UGC), to revise their pay scales and conditions of service.

The teachers are particularly unhappy with the PRC recommending an 'assessment of the performance of teachers by students who have been taught a course by the teacher'.

The PRC report said, "Multiple parameters like regularity in class room teaching, holding tutorials, availability to students for consultation, participating in faculty meetings, guiding and carrying out research, and participating in other academic activities like seminars, etc should be taken into consideration while assessing a teacher's academic accountability."

"This would politicise the teaching-learning atmosphere and have a negative impact on the overall academic environment in an institution", a teacher said.

Full report of the Pay Review Committee (PRC)

J. Khuntia, member of Council, Delhi University (DU) said, "Elected representatives of the teaching body are worried that this may be used as a tool to victimize teachers by students with no political motivation".

Patna University Teachers' Association General Secretary, Randhir Kumar Singh said, "It is very difficult to ensure fair evaluation of teachers' performance by students in a caste-ridden society. In a state like Bihar, where colleges and universities are mired with party politics as well as caste divide, students' evaluation would never be fair."

A similar suggestion was also made by the Rastogi Committee (1996), but on teachers' opposition, it was dropped by the UGC.

A group of teachers, lead by Rashmi Bhardwaj, Chairperson of the Indian National Teacher Congress (INTEC), will meet the Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Arjun Singh to explain him the differences in the teachers' pay structure.

Principals' Association of Delhi University (DU) has also expressed its concerns to the UGC Chairman, Prof. S.K. Thorat, on a number of points which the Association considers imperative for a better future of the teaching community.

The Association has also asked to revise the senior principal's scale, for those who have already completed 8-10 years of service. A new pay scale for senior professors has been recommended by the PRC, but nothing has been said about the senior principal's pay scale.

Sabbatical leave for college teachers has been recommended by Committee, but again, principals have been left out of the picture.

The report suggests that sabbatical leave should be made available to teachers after every five years and the upper limit of it being available only twice in one's whole career should be removed.

The PRC recommended that "a teacher must spend at least five hours, for at least five days a week, for conducting classes, holding tutorials, guiding research or carrying out any other academics or co-curricular activities assigned to her or him".