Tribhuvan University Teachers’ Association (TUTA) has decided to continue the 24-hour relay hunger strike till April 4, accusing the government and TU office-bearers of showing indifference towards their key demands.
Professors have been on a relay hunger strike in front of the TU Vice-Chancellor’s Office in Kirtipur since March 9 to press the government and the TU to address their 23-point charter of demands.
According to TUTA, the TU administration is yet to implement the agreement it had signed with TUTA on September 25, 2012.
“TU administration is yet to fulfil our key demands, including increment in salary. Therefore, we have decided to continue the relay hunger strike till April 5. If the demands are not addressed by then, we will opt for stronger protests,” Yogendra Narayan Badbariya, TUTA president, said.
TU professors, who have been staging a phasewise protest since February 1, had staged a pendown and sit-ins to exert pressure on the government and the TU administration to implement the agreement. They had also shut down 60 TU-affiliated colleges and four research centres for a week.
Their other demands include payment to university teachers as per the new salary scale implemented after mid-July last year, immediate announcement of vacancies for various posts as per a taskforce’s report, maintenance of a hierarchy system for professors, and respect for TU’s autonomy.
