Mysuru: Stating that employees of aided PU Colleges in the State were facing one or the other problems, MLC K. Vivekananda assured that he would take up the matter with the Government and make best efforts for addressing them.

He was speaking after inaugurating the  Mysuru District Unit of Karnataka State Aided PU Colleges Employees Association and Mysuru-Divisional (Mysuru, Mandya, Hassan, Chamarajanagar, Kodagu and Chikkamagalur districts) Convention of the Association at D. Banumaiah Kalabhavana in D. Banumaiah’s PU College premises near the City Bus Stand on New Sayyaji Rao Road here this morning.

Highlighting the problems faced by the employees, Vivekananda said that there were as many as 65,000 vacant posts in aided PU Colleges and the Guest Lecturers serving in these colleges are paid a mere Rs. 10,000.

Expressing concern over the steady decline in student admissions in aided colleges, he said that the Government had also failed in reimbursement of medical bills of the hospitalised staff, even though money is cut from the salaries of the staff for Medical Insurance premiums. He would raise all these matters with the Government, he maintained.

Association State President Dr. N. Harish said that the new rules under the Karnataka Department of School Education (Pre-University) (Academic, Registration, Administration and Grant-in-aid etc.,) Rules, 2024 has brought concerns among Lecturers. Expressing concern over the steady decline in the number of student admissions, while at the same time the number of private colleges is increasing, Dr. Harish stressed on the need for a unified fight covering all 821 aided PU colleges to exert pressure on the Government for resolution of issues bothering them. He also urged the Government to fulfil the 40-point charter of demands of the Association, which he claimed                                                                              were just and fair.

Former MLC K.T. Srikantegowda, Deputy Directors of PU Education Department Dr. T.R. Siddaraju, C. Cheluvaiah, K.P. Gangadhar, JSS Collegiate Education Assistant Director Niranjanamurthy, Association’s Mysuru District Unit President M.M. Mahadev, Hon. President M. Chandrashekar and others were present.