Dispirited Indian professor returns two years of salary over students never showing up for classes

College principal says classes were disrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic

Maroosha Muzaffar
Thursday 07 July 2022 12:49 BST
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<p>A college professor from a college in Muzaffarpur, Bihar in India has decided to return his salary of two years since, he claims, no students ever turned up for his classes. Screenshot</p>

A college professor from a college in Muzaffarpur, Bihar in India has decided to return his salary of two years since, he claims, no students ever turned up for his classes. Screenshot

A dispirited Indian college professor returned two years’ worth of salary since no students turned up for his classes.

The local Indian media reported that Lallan Kumar, an assistant professor of Hindi language at the Nitishwar college in Muzaffarpur in the north Indian state of Bihar said “there’s no one to teach, so what’s the salary for?”

Professor Kumar is heartbroken that no students have turned up for his classes and now fears “academic death” unless he is placed in a different college in the state.

Reports said that Mr Kumar returned salary worth Rs 23,80,000 (£25,108) to the college. But neither have the college authorities accepted his salary back, nor are they willing to understand his logic, he claimed.

The college maintained that Mr Kumar’s allegations were false. They said that due to the Covid pandemic the classes were not conducted offline.

“When I’d joined, I was not posted to a college where I could teach postgraduate classes. Those with lower ranks (in the selection process) got those postings. Here, the students never show up.”

Mr Kumar has also promised that he will sit on a “protest” if his “demand” isn’t met.

The college professor has also alleged that his name was left off the transfer list several times.

Manoj Kumar, principal of the college, meanwhile, said that Mr Kumar’s claim that no students ever turned up for his classes – zero attendance – has no basis.

“For two years, classes were disrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic,” he told NDTV. The principal also said that Mr Kumar “should have told me directly if he wanted a transfer”.

The university under which Nitishwar college falls said that they have taken note of the zero attendance in the college. “We will inquire into that,” RK Thakur, Vice-Chancellor of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University said.

“Professor Lallan Kumar is upset regarding his transfer demand. He has given us a cheque but we have not accepted it,” he said.

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