The Garhwal University Teachers Association (GUTA) has decided to go ahead with its proposed work boycott call from May 15 despite the state government’s decision to suspend the order which curtailed their summer vacations. The decision was taken at a meeting of the office bearers of the association here on Tuesday.
The state President of GUTA, SK Tygai told The Pioneer that the decision to continue with work boycott call was taken unanimously. He said that the higher education department has merely suspended the implementation of the new academic calendar and not abolished which means that the state government can any time re impose it. The academic calendar reduced the summer vacations by ten days which was opposed by the teacher organizations.
The new academic calendar was issued by the department on April 01. The calendar was prepared after a high level meeting conducted on February 19 sought to bring uniformity in the functioning of the colleges of the state. Tyagi said that the association also wants that the state government should drop retrospective implementation of the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS). The CAS was declared on April 2013 but the government is planning to implement it retrospectively from 2010 which has caused resentment among the teachers.
The decision of the teacher association to continue with its plans of work boycott would cause problems to the higher education department as the examinations of Sri Dev Suman Uttarakhand University and HNB Garhwal Central University are sure to be affected by it. There are more than 300 teachers of 13 government aided degree colleges who are members of GUTA.