Mysuru: No salary for three months, music teachers stage protest

Mysuru: After waiting in vain for almost three months for salaries, teaching and non teaching staff of the Karnataka State Dr. Gangubai Hangal Music and Performing Arts University in Mysuru, staged a protest on Saturday demanding payment of arrears.

Speaking to The Hans India, one of the teachers, requesting anonymity, said, "We have not been paid salaries for the last three months and our life has become miserable. We have met the officials concerned in the university, but to no avail. I guess the university is only using the pandemic as an execuse to pay our salaries. As instructed by the UGC, we have been taking online classes (Zoom App, WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube and others) since April itself. We have done our duty. The university has no internal source of income and an alternative arrangement should be made to pay our salaries. We are protesting to draw the attention of the state government."

The university, reckoned to be India's second music and performing arts university, began holding classes six years ago, three years after its formation in the absence of a campus.

It functioned out of the century-old building at Lakshmipuram, where a government school used to function but was closed down because of poor intake. The university, founded on February 14, 2008, offers undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral courses. It was founded to impart education in the Gurukula and modern systems.