A faculty member of a government-aided college in Chennai has written an open letter to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister demanding promotion and salary benefits under the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) pending for more than five years, even as faculty members of various government-aided colleges on Thursday launched an ongoing protest at the Directorate of Higher Education.
J. Sulaiman, a member of the Association of University Teachers (AUT) and president of the New College Staff Association, said in his letter that CAS benefits have been partially extended to several teachers in Coimbatore and Thanjavur regions. Several faculty members went to the courts and got their benefits through court rulings. However, most faculty members looked up to the Chief Minister to ensure that social justice was followed, wrote Prof. Sulaiman.
Government of Tamil Nadu GO No. 5 (Department of Higher Education) issued on 11 January 2021 has taken measures to implement CAS for government and aided colleges. Subsequently, the benefits were extended to government colleges but not to aided colleges.
The protesting faculty members, meanwhile, said that because of the denial of CAS benefits to aided university teachers, they were unable to enroll additional researchers, denying at least 1,000 economically disadvantaged rural students a PhD. Teachers under the banner of AUT and MUTA (Madurai Kamaraj, Manonmaniam Sundaranar, Mother Teresa and Alagappa University Teachers Association) criticized what they called discriminatory practices against one group of teachers despite working in the same education system.
Published – 06 March 2026 02:30 IST
