Assam College Teachers Halt Classes in Statewide Pen-Down Strike

Overview

• Teachers organised a statewide pen-down strike and campus sit-ins that stopped academic work in provincialised colleges on Friday to press a 13-point charter of long-pending demands.
• ACTA’s key demands include reopening the 2013 OM portal used to record service histories, granting Career Advancement Scheme promotions from dates of eligibility, and counting previous service toward seniority and promotion.
• The association also calls for scrapping the contribution-based National Pension System in favour of the defined-benefit Old Pension Scheme, the release of pending UGC-scale arrears and withheld increments for MPhil and PhD qualifications.
• Local actions formed part of the agitation: 58 teachers at Nalbari College held a two-hour dharna and suspended classes while faculty across campuses cited missing promotion meetings, unfilled posts and insecure pay as drivers of the protest.
• As of Oct. 30–31 there is no recorded government response, with ACTA urging urgent intervention and warning that continued delays in promotions, regularisation of fixed-pay teachers and hiring could further damage teaching capacity and students’ learning.