Former students of Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) gathered at the university campus on 2nd May 2018 to protest against the state government’s inability to hire new lecturers in government colleges since 2012.
These former students of SPPU are currently employed as professors in various universities of the state and come from areas such as Nagar, Satara, Sangli, and Shrirampur. The main reason for the protest was the disturbed employment scenario . According to them, despite holding M.Phil and Ph.D. degrees and clearing National Eligibility Test (NET) and State Eligibility Test (SET), most of them are still teaching at colleges with salaries between Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 7,000 per month.
Also Read: Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) Approves Reforms in Evaluation Process
Professors wrote a letter to Dr. Nitin Karmalkar, Vice- Chancellor, stating that they will return their degrees to the university if no action is taken regarding this matter within a month. One of the protestors Mahavir Sable, who has master’s and M.Ed degrees from SPPU’s Hindi department along with SET said that the salary offered to them is less than that of a permanent peon in a state level university. Such low salaries make it very difficult for them to support their families and to meet everyday expenses.
Also Read: Maharashtra Govt. to Introduce Single-Window System for University Students
Another protester, Anmol Shinde, Lecturer, Department of Commerce, threw light on the fact that 9,000 posts of professors are lying vacant in the state but they have not conducted any recruitments since a long time and that the government should start focusing on the same.