education

Updated: Jul 10, 2017 09:41 IST

Nearly 8,00,000 teachers and staff working in colleges, universities and institutions run by the Centre and state governments are set to get a pay hike in the range of 22-28%.

The Cabinet is set to take up a UGC panel’s recommendation in this regard this month itself, sources said, adding that it is “most likely to sail through”.

“A decision on allowances will be taken up later,” a senior HRD ministry official said.

As per the proposal, an assistant professor’s entry pay would jump by Rs 10,396 with a grade pay of Rs 6,000 while that of an associate professor will rise by Rs 23,662.

The last pay hike for teachers was implemented in 2006. Several teachers’ associations of various universities and colleges have been threatening to go on strike over the delay in implementation of the seventh pay commission even after the UGC panel submitted its report in February this year.

The pay revision will benefit faculty and staff in state government-funded colleges and universities, at central universities, and other centrally funded technical institutions such as IITs, NITs, among others.

Centrally-funded technical institutions will have a separate pay structure and a different pay panel has suggested increasing their salary structure, but the proposals are being considered together, officials said.

The pay hike is likely to cost approximately Rs 70,000 crore over a period of three years, and this would be shared equally by the Centre and states, sources said.

The government had last year constituted a pay review committee, headed by UGC member VS Chauhan, which had submitted its recommendations earlier this year. Following this, the HRD ministry formed a committee to review the recommendations.

As per the recommendation, the existing system of assessing annual performance of teachers has also been revised, keeping in view suggestions from various stakeholders. For instance, the current point system is likely to be replaced by a grading system.

The Committee has also suggested linking grants to universities to the vacant posts filled by them and qualified individuals to be able to make direct entry at both associate and professor levels.