Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 15

The Amritsar unit of the Aam Adami Party (AAP) has criticised the SAD-BJP and Congress governments for befooling teachers and held them responsible for lowering the education standards in Punjab due to which neither students nor teachers are getting quality education. Almost all colleges and universities are going through financial crisis and 50 per cent of colleges are on the verge of closure.

Addressing mediapersons Prof HS Walia, joint secretary of the intellectual wing of the AAP flanked by AAP leaders Seema Sodhi and Dixit Dhawan, attacking the incumbent government said barring Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, all states have extended UGC pay scales as per the recommendations of the seventh Pay Commission. The grades were not implemented due to the lax attitude of the government and the teachers of Himachal and Chandigarh are also suffering on account of the laxity of the Punjab government as they follow Punjab in this respect.

Unfortunately, the Punjab government wants to separate the teachers’’ scale in the state from the UGC scale, as a result of which it will have to forfeit the grant from the Central government. It is pertinent to mention here that Punjab was a state in which the teachers of the colleges receiving government grants do not even get pension. The pension and gratuity scheme in this regard were approved by previous governments and passed in the cabinet and assembly but remained non-implemented due to the introduction of the Code of Conduct.

This government has always been hurting higher education by making excuses of lack of resources and money. AAP leaders said there is no dearth of resources, higher education is going through a very bad situation due to lopsided policies of the governments.