Existing Scenario: Once a teacher, always a teacher is a very popular saying. However, issues relating to the age of superannuation of teachers, post-retirement benefit of Pension and terminal benefits like Provident Fund and Gratuity have always been matters of concern for them since these relate to social security available to them once they have finished their teaching careers.
The Pay Review Committee during its interaction with teachers and also after scrutinizing the data made available to it through responses to its questionnaires and also through the written representations made to it noted with grave concern that there was no uniformity in the availability of such benefits to university and college teachers across the country. Even with respect to a significant issue like the age of superannuation, the span is from fifty five to sixty five with fifty eight, sixty, sixty two as terminal stages in between. Similarly, there are teachers who enjoy the benefits of post-retirement pension while others have no such support. In some institutions the provision of general provident fund is available for a section of in-service teachers while others even in the same institution are governed by the Contributory Provident Fund Scheme.
Keeping all this in mind and being aware of the fact that issues of social security will go a long way in attracting fresh talent to teaching in colleges and universities, the Pay Review Committee makes the following recommendations.
The age of Superannuation: Keeping in mind the fact that the field of higher education is currently facing an acute shortage of teachers at all levels and also being aware of the decision of the central government to expand the base of college and university education significantly throughout the country during the XI Five Year Plan which has been declared as the Plan for Education, The Pay Review Committee recommends that the age of superannuation of teachers should be 65 years throughout the country whether working in a State or Central University as also whether in a college or in a university.
The Pay Review Committee also believes that the fears expressed by certain quarters that raising the age of superannuation to sixty five years would have an adverse impact on the recruitment of young teachers at the entry level is both misconstrued and misplaced. According to the understanding of the Pay Review Committee, the demand and supply situation of teachers for higher education is such that even after this provision of sixty five years as the age of superannuation of teachers is put in place, there would still be a significant shortfall in the availability of qualified teachers. Moreover, the academic institutions will continue to derive the benefits of availability of senior academics both in teaching and research. This would indeed be a big factor towards the improvement in quality of teaching and research. The Pay Review Committee is of the considered opinion that while allowing the institutions to continue to derive the benefits of participation by senior academics in both teaching and research; it will also attract talented young academics to the profession.
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