The Joint Action Council of College Teachers (JAC) in Saturday urged the State government to withdraw the common syllabus to be introduced in universities in Tamil Nadu.
Its members said the move was an attempt to enforce the National Education Policy by taking away the autonomy of State universities.
Addressing mediapersons here, JAC convener M. Nagarajan said the Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education (TANSCHE) had introduced the common syllabus without consulting stakeholders, educationists and teachers associations. The common syllabus was substandard compared with the existing syllabus.
The inappropriate increase in the number of courses for each semester without taking into account the existing semester pattern further increased academic stress. Changes in ancillary and practical courses would definitely result in a lot of changes in the workload of the teaching staff.
The members said the government had provided the benefits of career advancement with arrears to all faculty members working in universities, government colleges, government engineering colleges and polytechnic colleges. However, professors working in government-aided colleges were yet to receive them.
In its set of demands, the JAC urged the State to immediately withdraw the common syllabus introduced by TANSCHE, which took away the autonomy of the universities and issue an order for granting financial benefits under the career advancement scheme together with pending arrears to teachers of government aided colleges.
Further, they urged the State to immediately provide M.Phil. and Ph.D. incentives to college teachers as per the guidelines of the University Grants Commission, grant professor grade to eligible college teachers under the career advancement scheme and extend the date for completing orientation/ refresher courses under the scheme.