Six student bodies in Manipur on Thursday appealed to the state government to implement UGC 7th Pay and Regulation 2018 for college teachers to prevent further protests and agitations by the teachers.
The state government must implement 7th Pay for the teachers to prove that it is giving priority to higher education in the state, a joint release issued by the All Manipur Students Union (AMSU), Manipur Students Federation (MSF), Democratic Students Alliance of Manipur (DESAM), Kangleipak Students Association (KSA), Students Union of Kangleipak (SUK) and Apunba Imagi Maheirol Singpanglup (AIMS) stated.
It stated that the teachers’ decision to go ahead with mass casual leave and a cease work strike apart from holding various sit in protests is a direct result of the state government's inaction towards the demands of the teachers.
The standard of higher education in the State can be at par with the national level only when the 7th UGC pay for the teachers is implemented, it stated. Employees of other departments under the state government have already enjoyed the 7th pay, it added.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Federation of Government College Teachers’ Association, Manipur (FEGOCTA) said that implementing the 7th Pay and Regulation, 2018 will be the only option to stop the agitations taken up by the government college teachers of Manipur.
As resolved in previous FEGOCTA meetings, the Government College teachers will continue the present 5th agitations until the orders of UGC 7th Pay and Regulations, 2018 are issued, said a release issued by general secretary of FEGOCTA N Somorendro.
Asserting that the federation has been requesting the state government to implement the 7th pay scale since December 2018 and moreover the government has given written assurances thrice to implement the pay scale, it said, “FEGOCTA adopted every agitation as the last resort only when the government fails.”
