Teaching staff at MKU stage protest demanding release of pending remuneration for valuating papers

MADURAI: Members of the teaching faculty engaged in paper valuation at Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) staged a protest in front of the paper valuation hall on Monday against the delay on the part of authorities to issue remuneration for evaluating papers during the past six months. They also said they were not provided refreshments, including drinking water, on Monday when the paper valuation of UG courses began.

Usually, the authorities provide refreshments including tea, coffee and snacks during work. But, on Monday, over 1,000 staff involved in the activities did not even receive water. In this situation, the staff decided to stage a strike and also demanded the authorities to pay the pending remuneration for paper valuation works held in the past six months.

Speaking to TNIE, a teaching faculty from MKU said the authorities asked us to pay for tea and snacks from our own pockets citing the varsity's financial crisis. "MKU is paying Rs 12 per UG paper and Rs 15 per PG paper. But, for the past six months, we haven't received the payment. Most of the teaching faculties here are guest lecturers and earn a monthly salary of around Rs 20,000 only. Also, the authorities now informed us that they would deduct TDS from our remuneration," he said.

MKU Vice Chancellor J Kumar held a meeting with the protesters, and later refreshments were provided to the staff. The V-C also promised to disburse the pending remuneration within a week.