Punjab: NGCMF refuses to fill vacant DPI posts of college teachers, seeks CM Bhagwant Mann’s intervention

NGCMF said the grants scheme had been diluted arbitrarily without consulting stakeholders and demanded the implementation of a full-fledged 95 per cent grant-in-aid scheme in all 142 colleges in Punjab and Chandigarh.

Jalandhar/Amritsar: The apex executive body of Non-Govt. Colleges’ Managements Federation of Punjab and Chandigarh (NGCMF) today (April 2) declared not to fill vacant DPI posts of College teachers in Punjab under 75 per cent grants scheme in the future, in protest against the ‘dictatorial attitude’ of Punjab Education Department officials.

They said the scheme had been diluted arbitrarily without consulting stakeholders and demanded the implementation of a full-fledged 95 per cent grant-in-aid scheme in all 142 colleges in Punjab and Chandigarh.

Following their joint meeting with the representatives of three Principals’ Association of Colleges affiliated to state universities in Punjab at DAV College, Jalandhar, they said the diluted Grant in Aid scheme by the state government has squarely hit the finances of the aided Colleges. Higher education is under stress and many colleges in Punjab are on the verge of closure but instead of providing olive branch to colleges, the government is hell-bent upon to destroy the institutions of higher learning.

While congratulating the new regime of the AAP government under Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the office bearers of the colleges’ representative body sought the intervention of the CM and Education Minister and asked them to look into this grim situation which is detrimental to the higher education. “We welcome the state government’s positive involvement in higher education and are open to reforms. But the arbitrary decisions by top officials of the education department are pushing the education to devastation”, said NGCMF President Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina in a press statement issued here.

Principals poured their hearts out regarding their humiliation, maltreatment and harassment by the education department and DPI. The house, after listening to the voices of concern regarding bullying by government machinery stated that Principals are torch-bearers of society and their disrespect is intolerable. “So pathetic is the situation that the official orders are being conveyed through telephonic conversation, SMS and WhatsApp chat”, said Chhina as the body his chairmanship resolved to entertain only written orders from education department and DPI.