Pay hike for 7.5 lakh teachers in varsities, colleges cleared by cabinet

NEW DELHI: A pay hike for over 7.5 lakh teachers in central and state universities has been cleared by the Union Cabinet, Education Minister Prakash Javadekar announced on Wednesday. He said the decision was an attempt to do justice to faculty members at the country's higher education institutions and attract good talent.

The higher salaries will be effective 1 January 2016, quite like the pay hikes central government employees had received on the recommendation of the Seventh Central Pay Commission.

The announcement will benefit the faculty at central and state universities, besides thousands of colleges that receive aid from the higher education regulator at the centre, the University Grants Commission.

"We need to attract talent and give good salaries to our teaching staff and to retain them," Javadekar told reporters after the meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.