Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Beyond 147: A Tale of 2 Worlds

Regularisation of 147(contract) Assistant Professor was not at all a welcome move and the reaction and response was an obvious one. More than superseding the merit based selection; it was infringement of the ‘Right to Equal Opportunity’, that opened doors for debates and discussions. At the end, the Order was revoked. No matter whoever wants to take the credit for the revocation, the saying, ‘People United Shall Always Be Victorious!’ holds true. 

But that's not what I want to talk about. 

The thing is, in Delhi, those colleges which come under the ambit of University of Delhi, whether private or government follows the UGC norms when it comes to salary and emoluments. However, in Nagaland, forget about the salary difference between government and private colleges, even among the private colleges, there is no standardization. Although the tuition fees of the private colleges are high as compared to government colleges, but salaries of the teachers are low. 

Government institutions typically receive substantial and consistent funding from the government (either central or state). This stable financial backing allows them to adhere to standardized pay scales and provide better compensation packages. While on the other hand, the financial health of private colleges and universities can vary significantly. Their revenue often depends on students’ fees, donations, and endowments. In some cases, they may have budget constraints that limit their ability to offer salaries comparable to government institutions. This is the reason why, although some private colleges may have movie set level college infrastructure but the course instructors out there are earning way lesser than their counterparts.  In a college, the work is divided into two categories, administrative works and teaching works, some college to control their finances, assign teachers to handle the administrative works too but the salary remains the same. 

Each year, thousands of aspirants sit for the NPSC CESE- Combined Education Service Examination, the gateway to acquire the position of Assistant Professorship. Once inducted, they are officiated as First Class Gazette officer, with lucrative salaries and perks. On the other hand, there is another set of Assistant Professors, the ones who teach in private colleges of Nagaland. They too have cleared the NET and some have PhD degree but due to various reasons have landed in private college.  It won’t be easy to bring about rationalization in the salary but as long as the teacher is motivated not by, or say, only by salary then there is a ray of bliss and contentment in her life. 

2 comments:

  1. Nice article. And for the record, CTAN and NNQF deserve the credit.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well written. Salary disparity is so disheartening.

    ReplyDelete

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