Karnataka: Strike over, lecturers to start PU valuation today

Bengaluru: Pre-university college lecturers, who had boycotted second PU evaluation work for the last 14 days demanding better pay and other facilities, called off their strike on Tuesday after a meeting with Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Rathnakar.

Mr Rathnakar told members of the PU Lecturers’ Association that the government is willing to hold talks on their demands, but will not budge to their blackmail tactics. “I will come to you whenever you request. I am like the mother in a family, and not the father. I am not in a position to give you any assurances,” he said.

Association president Thimmaiah Purle told the minister that they will attend the valuation work from Wednesday only because the students’ interests were affected. “But our fight will continue. We cannot accept a single increment announced by the government, which is like alms to a beggar,” he said.

Confirming the development, PU Department Director Ramegowda said that lecturers’ strike did not serve any purpose except triggering panic among students and their parents.

Earlier in the evening, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah held a marathon meeting with officials from the education and finance departments, which was attended by Mr Rathnakar too. Mr Siddaramaiah made it clear that the government cannot implement the Kumar Naik report as it will financially burden the government.
He directed the officials to make arrangements for foolproof evaluation by using all available human resources.

No grace marks for Mathematics
The PU department announced that there will not be any grace marks for ‘tough’ mathematics questions. Following an online campaign by the II PUC science students, state government had formed a committee to look into the allegations that out of syllabus questions were asked in the Mathematics question paper. But the committee said all questions were from within the syllabus.