Mangaluru
Classes in the first-grade government colleges in the egion, covering Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Kodagu districts, have come to a standstill as guest lecturers’ have started an indefinite stir urging the state government to fulfil their demands.
Though guest faculty from other parts of the state started protesting on November 23, guest lecturers from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi joined them only on Tuesday.
The guest faculty from Kodagu started their protest on Monday. In Mangaluru, there are about 600 lecturers at Mangalore University alone, and 80 percent of them are guest faculty. As a result of their absence, classes have been disrupted at a time when students will be going for the semester examination in another few weeks. Mangalore University is planning to hold the first, third, and fifth semester examinations on December 15.
The college students reacting to the strike commented that it will affect them adversely, as the colleges have still not been able to complete half of the semester syllabus. The guest lecturers’ started working 45 days after college started. So far, they have not covered the syllabus, and semester examinations are scheduled for the third week of December, tentatively. Their absence will impact our academics in a big way. We want the government to solve their issues, and we want them back in class, expressed K Adithya, a student of Dr P Dayananda Pai P Satisha Pai Government First Grade College, Udupi. The college has 65 guest faculty and a total 35 permanent faculty. Today, a few of the guest faculty members came to take classes. It will be difficult if the stir continues, a senior lecturer at the college said.
