An Empirical Analysis on the Working Condition of Contractual Teachers in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in India with Reference to Selected Government Aided Colleges at Kolkata City of West Bengal

Abstract

A number of changes have taken place in the number of colleges, universities and institutions along with the huge increase in the enrollments of students is a positive change on which the future progress of the economy hinges. But some developments are not so positive and one amongst these is that a large number of the posts of teachers are lying vacant in these institutions and against these posts teachers are hired on ad hoc, contractual and purely temporary basis. Colleges whether Government, aided or private, are reducing their financial burden by recruiting contractual teachers instead of hiring teachers on regular basis. The economic and social consequences of the hiring of teachers on ad hoc and contractual basis are quite serious. The present study attempts to explore the lives and experiences of such teachers whose records are not kept by any agency with the help of a structured questionnaire and then the information’s were collected and interpreted with the help of statistical software (SPSS). Their voices are ignored and, moreover, they don’t have any worthwhile platform to raise their voice. The study covers all those contractual teachers of the colleges of Kolkata who don’t have regular or permanent jobs, are not getting full grades and don’t even have any future assurance or opportunities for a stable career and professional development. The study has analyzed the two objectives one is to study the present working conditions of contractual teachers in HEIs with reference to some select Government aided colleges in Kolkata and the other is to examine the various benefits available to the contractual teachers of HEIs.

Keywords: Higher Education System, Working Conditions, Contractual workers, SPSS.

JEL Classifications: I23, J81, J46, C87.