4 min readMar 3, 2026 06:15 PM IST First published on: Mar 3, 2026 at 06:15 PM ISTBy Venkatanarayanan Sethuraman, A P ArunkannanWhile Tamil Nadu is gearing up for elections, various contract workers, such as nurses, school teachers, and guest faculty members of government colleges, are protesting and insisting that the government fulfil its electoral promises. For the past three decades, the state’s two major parties, the DMK and AIADMK, have made several promises to regularise the contractual workforce, but have never implemented them. Around 9,000 guest faculty of government institutions have undertaken protests demanding that the current DMK government implement the UGC guidelines and increase remuneration to at least Rs 50,000. India, after adopting the neoliberal political economy, has been slowly withdrawing from many sectors, such as health, education, and water resources, creating space for private players to provide services for profit.AdvertisementContract Employment of TeachersThe Tamil Nadu government introduced contract-based employment for teachers at government colleges in the 1970s, but the method of recruitment and the salary was same as those of the permanent teachers. These teachers were regularised till 1990s due to pressure from the teachers’ associations and court intervention. To avoid demands for regularisation, the state government changed the recruitment method and introduced an hourly system in 1997 for contract/temporary teachers. The precariously employed teachers were given a new nomenclature as guest faculty.The DMK government introduced a consolidated pay for guest faculty after winning the 2006 elections. It started at Rs 6,000 per month, and reached Rs 25,000 per month after protests by guest faculty members. The DMK and AIADMK have not fulfilled their electoral promise of the regularisation of guest faculty members till now. On February 25, after sustained protests, the DMK government increased the consolidated pay to Rs 30,000, far below the UGC-mandated pay of at least Rs 50,000.Also Read | Sonia Gandhi writes: Government’s silence on killing of Iran leader is not neutral, it is abdicationTamil Nadu has 2,807 colleges, of which 85.25 per cent are privately owned. Many of these colleges pay less than what is being paid to the guest faculty at government colleges. The majority of guest faculty members are PhD holders and first generation leaners belonging to SC/ST, BC, and MBC social categories. This unfair treatment — no social security, no minimum payment — fails to inspire youngsters from these communities to pursue higher education. The Kerala government is paying Rs 50,000 and the Haryana government is paying Rs 57,000 for guest faculty members, but the government of Tamil Nadu, which emphasises social justice, has not implemented this minimum pay norm till now. In Shah Samir Bharatbhai vs State of Gujarat (2025), the SC insisted that the principle of equal pay parity for contractual academics should be followed without any discrimination.AdvertisementSurvey in Tamil NaduA short survey of 528 guest faculty members by the authors of this article has revealed their precarious condition at the workplace and within their community. Due to their temporary and vulnerable employment status, they are given the college’s clerical and administrative work and are not treated with dignity by the permanent faculty members and students. In many government colleges, the guest faculty members belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) experience caste-based exclusion and discrimination from the administration, permanent faculty members, and students. Many have to support themselves by working as drivers, hotel servers, insurance agents, running petty shops, electricians, and other part-time work to support their families.you may likeThere is no social security protection like medical insurance, accident insurance, Provident Fund (PF), medical leave, earned leave, etc. – the guest faculty are only entitled to casual leave. They cannot take loans from any formal financial institution as they are not given salary slips. The guest faculty teachers’ association has to collect money voluntarily to support any accidental death or contingency. In Dr Kavita Yadav vs Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Department (2024), the SC stated that contract workers are eligible for maternity benefits. But the women guest faculty members are denied any maternity benefits.The Tamil Nadu government should reconsider its decision with regard to guest faculty members and provide them with UGC-recommended remuneration, social security benefits immediately, and fill in all the 9,000 permanent teaching positions at higher education institutions.Sethuraman is associate professor, Christ University, Bengaluru, and Arunkannan is an independent researcher based in Chennai. Views are personal