COIMBATORE: Teachers of private arts and science colleges affiliated with Bharathiar University have requested the university to revise the invigilation duty honorarium from Rs 200 to at least Rs 300 or more.

The last revision was done in 2019, they pointed out.

An assistant professor from a private college in the city, who wished to remain anonymous, told TNIE that invigilation duties are assigned to faculty every semester at colleges 20 to 25 kilometres away from their respective institutions.

Rs 200 honorarium given by the university is insufficient due to the rising fuel costs and overall increase in living expenses, he said.

In 2019, the honorarium was revised from Rs 150 to Rs 200, and since it is now insufficient, most faculty are reluctant to take up invigilation duty during the semester.

The professor said that officials in the Controller of Examinations office at the university are struggling to deploy invigilators for exam duty.

He urged BU to immediately revise the honorarium to Rs 300 or more.

A Balasankar, president of the Association of University Teachers, Zone IV, told TNIE that even the TNPSC, which is also a government body, pays Rs 500 as invigilation honorarium for its examinations, and said that BU should consider the revision accordingly.

He pointed out that the current honorarium is not enough to meet even their daily expenses such as food, snacks, and petrol.

Bharathiar University Registrar R Rajavel told TNIE that the matter would be looked into.