A collective of teachers’ associations wrote to state higher education minister Bratya Basu on Thursday to protest against the government’s decision to disburse salaries of vice-chancellors, teachers and other employees of state-aided universities directly from the government treasury.
The new system will mark a departure from the practice of paying salaries from the accounts of the universities.
The change threatens to take away “financial autonomy, whatever left, from the universities,” the letter said. “It shall pave the way, we fear, for further unnecessary and undemocratic interventions by the state government, which shall prove dangerous for the autonomous status of state universities,” it added.
The letter reminded how a similar attempt was scuttled in 2018 after “serious resistance” by teachers. “We would humbly request you to reconsider the matter in the best interest of each and every individual associated with the state-aided universities,” the letter said.
Calls and text messages from this newspaper to Basu went unanswered.