Teachers' Strike Hits Lucknow Varsity, Colleges

Lucknow: Teaching at Lucknow University and several of its affiliated colleges was suspended after around 1,200 teachers went on a daylong strike to protest the delay of payment of their arrears, an official said. "The government had assured to provide the hiked salary scale to teachers as per the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. As the government continues to turn a blind eye to our long-pending demands, we would not be holding a single class today (Monday)," Lucknow University Teachers' Association (LUTA) president Anil Shukla told reporters here. "We personally don't want to disturb the studies of the students, but we have no other option but to protest in order to get ourselves heard," he added. Besides holding demonstrations in the university campus, teachers later in the day would also march to Raj Bhawan, where they would hand over a memorandum to Governor B.L. Joshi. Meanwhile, students expressed concern over the strike. "The dispute is between the government and the teachers, but we are at the receiving end. We are the worst-hit by such strikes," said Devyansh Singh, a media student. Alok Kumar, another student, said: "Our mid-term examinations are starting first week of December. A strike at this point is surely going to affect several students. Teachers are aware about it, still they chose this time for their strike."
Source: IANS