NEW DELHI: Pained by the treatment meted out to teachers in the country, Supreme Court has said mere public recital of “guru brahma, guru vishnu, guru devo maheswarah” is meaningless if those who shape future generations are paid a pittance.Criticising Gujarat government for paying contractual assistant professors Rs 30,000 a month despite them performing work similar to ad hoc and regular associate professors, who earn around Rs 1.2 lakh and Rs 1.4 lakh per month, respectively, a bench of justices P S Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi said, “We have a serious concern about the way we treat our teachers who educate our future generations, enable them to acquire the necessary qualifications and expertise.””Academicians, lecturers and professors are the intellectual backbone of any nation, as they dedicate their lives to shaping the minds and character of future generations. Their work goes far beyond delivering lessons – it involves mentoring, guiding research, nurturing critical thinking, and instilling values that contribute to the progress of society,” the bench said.SC was troubled by the lack of recognition of teachers’ invaluable contribution to society and the nation. “When educators are not treated with dignity or offered respectable emoluments, it diminishes the value a country places on knowledge and undermines the motivation of those entrusted with building its intellectual capital,” it said.Dismissing Gujarat govt’s appeal against an HC order directing the state to follow the “equal work, equal pay principle” in fixing emoluments for assistant professors in engineering colleges, the bench said that only by ensuring fair remuneration and dignified treatment can a nation affirm its commitment to the importance of their role and to quality education, innovation and a brighter future for its youth.Referring to the case in hand, SC said, “More than the justifiable claim for parity, it is rather disturbing to see how lecturers, holding the post of assistant professors, continue to be paid and subsist on such low salaries for almost two decades. We are informed that of the 2,720 sanctioned posts, only 923 posts were filled by regularly appointed staff. To address this shortage and to ensure continuity of academic activities, state govt has resorted to ad hoc and contractual appointments.””While 158 posts were filled by ad hoc appointments, 902 posts were filled on a contractual basis. This measure left 737 posts vacant, and this number in fact increased with the sanctioning of 525 new posts of assistant professors and 347 posts of lecturers. With a large number of sanctioned posts remaining vacant, state govt continues to make appointments on an ad hoc and contractual basis,” it said.
