Punjab: On Friday i.e. February 26, 2010, over 180 private colleges of Punjab and Chandigarh observed complete 'education bandh' (shutdown) on the call of Join Action Committee (JAC), which represents their faculty, principals and stakeholders. In addition, hundreds of teaching and non-teaching staff members of these colleges held a protest rally.
Jagwant Singh, General Secretary of JAC, has mentioned that they demanded the lifting of ban on recruitment of teaching and non-teaching posts. There is a faculty deficit of nearly 50 per cent in the state and 1,700 teaching posts and 1,000 non-teaching posts are lying vacant in these colleges. Further, he added that many of these colleges are even finding it difficult to pay salaries to their staff. If the present situation continues, then they would intensify their campaign and only Punjab government will be responsible for the consequences. JAC also demanded the release of grants, which were stopped by Punjab government in 1999-2000. Therefore, the aggrieved committee has decided to observe a complete education shutdown in the state.
According to S.C. Sanwalka, JAC Chairman, non- government colleges have contributed immensely to all the walks of life of Punjab and the country. However, due to continuous neglect by the state government, these colleges are finding it really difficult to survive. As per sources, JAC was constituted last month by the Private Colleges Management Federation of Punjab and Chandigarh and Federation of Associations of College Principals and Teachers' Union (Punjab and Chandigarh), to draw the attention of Punjab government towards the problems faced by the colleges.
