Guest lecturers want the State government to disburse their salary for the month of April. Though in 2019, the Madras High Court had directed that the lecturers should be paid ₹50,000 as salary, the government has been paying only ₹25,000 since June 2023, and that too, only for 11 months.

G. Sivakumar, former president of the Association of UGC Qualified Guest Lecturers of Tamil Nadu Government Arts and Science Colleges, said: “Every year, the salary for April is paid only in July. This causes financial hardship to guest lecturers. They struggle to pay house rent and tuition fees for their children.”

Although the teachers undertake examination duty and student admission during May, they are not paid for their services, he said, adding: “The lecturers must be paid salary for all the 12 months.“

The delayed payment has put much pressure on teachers, with many suffering from health issues. Nearly 1,000 of them have died owing to such pressures. The government should give ₹25 lakh to the family of deceased teachers and a government job to a family member, he added.

In the 164 arts and science colleges and seven teacher education colleges under the government’s purview, as many as 5,699 guest lecturers are employed in shift I and 7,360 lecturers in shift II.