Harassed by management, college teachers in TN take Rs 1 Cr Health Insurance policies

Teachers belonging to Association of University Teachers (AUT) employed at a Government-aided college in Tiruchy have insured themselves for Rs 1 crore saying that it was their insurance against any harm to health condition that harassment by their college management may cause.

An AUT member who posted the insurance policy copy on social media wrote that the lives of the AUT staff at UDC was endangered and the policy was in preparation for their future. UDC teachers with the AUT said that of the 12 teachers, eight were insured and the rest have their medical check-up pending. The teachers are 38 to 49 years old. This innovate protest cost the AUT teachers Rs 3000 to Rs 5000, depending on their age and health condition, as a premium with a private insurance agency.

"The college management puts us through so much pressure and harasses us. No one knows what this may do to our health and what illness it may bring about," one of the members said. The AUT teachers have been carrying on a protest against the institution for a long time. Speaking about it, one of the members said, "The current management at the college is very keen on removing AUT members from the college or to make us forfeit our allegiance to the AUT. They want complete monopoly without any criticism of mistakes in their implementations at the college. To achieve this they constantly put us through hardships."

The members said that the college management has been constantly targeting staff with AUT. "They make us stay back longer. Our own students have been at times forced to make fake complaints against us," said another teacher with the association. The teacher said that many staff at the college were in AUT initially but were forced to quit the association, "The number dropped from around 50 to 12 now," said a member.