Implement Career Advancement Scheme benefits: Lecturers

Lecturers demand immediate implementation of Career Advancement Scheme benefits, highlighting disparities and impact on students' academic futures.

More than 500 lecturers of the Association of University Teachers (AUT) and the Madurai-Kamaraj, Manonmaniam Sundaranar, Mother Teresa, and Alagappa University Teachers’ Association (MUTA), including 200 women lecturers, staged a road blockade here on Saturday demanding for the immediate implementation of the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) benefits.

The protesters said, “At the heart of the dispute is the delay in implementation of the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS). While the Tamil Nadu government successfully implemented the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations and cleared arrears for teachers in government colleges, their counterparts in government-aided institutions have been systematically side lined.”

The protesters highlighted the stark regional disparity in how the Higher Education Department has handled the transition.

“In Coimbatore and Thanjavur regions, teachers received their CAS pay hikes, but their accumulated arrears remain unpaid. In six other regions, including Chennai, teachers have received nothing but the official order on paper—neither the revised salary nor the arrears have been disbursed,” he added.

“We are functioning under the exact same Government Order as our colleagues in government colleges. Yet, we are being treated with a step-motherly attitude. This is not just a delay, but a discrimination,” said A.T. Senthamarai Kannan, general secretary, MUTA.

The crisis extends beyond the bank accounts of faculty members; it is directly impacting the academic future of the State. Under UGC regulations, only teachers with the designated associate professor rank could supervise a specific number of research scholars, he added.