By IANS,
Chandigarh : Teaching in scores of private colleges across Punjab and Chandigarh was affected Tuesday as hundreds of teachers took mass casual leave seeking a pension and gratuity scheme among other demands.
Teachers from the private colleges, which are aided by the government under the 95 percent grant-in-aid scheme, are seeking the implementation of a pension and gratuity scheme for private college teachers.
The call for the strike was given by the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union (PCCTU). There are over 170 private colleges in Punjab and Chandigarh that are aided by the government.
PCCTU leaders held a rally at Batala town in Gurdaspur district in support of their demands. They criticised Punjab education minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan for being unable to implement the pension and gratuity scheme agreed by the state government in 2001.
The union’s president Jagwant Singh said the agitation would be intensified and teachers would cease work in colleges for two hours every day till Nov 15.
The teachers will again go on mass casual leave for two days on Nov 16 and 17, he said.
Other demands of teachers include lifting of the ban on recruitment in private colleges imposed in 2005.