Khumukcham Suchitra Devi and Jitendra Kumar Kushwaha
Manipur University, Manipur
Pages: 197-204
Non-Regular Teachers have become an integral part of the higher education system in
India. Against the numbers of vacant posts lying in the higher education, the non
regular teachers are engaged at a lesser remuneration. Doing so serves as a double
edge sword as it addresses the concern of increasing demand for higher education
among students with lesser financial strain on the government or the institutes. Thus
the practice of engaging non-regular teachers is gaining popularity. However, this practice
leads to several issues among the non-regular teachers. In addition to the issue of
lower salary, the non-regular teachers report experiencing unfair treatment at their
workplace. These unfair treatment are mostly displayed on the basis of the nature of
their employment. Thus, being employed on a contract basis leads to a series of
grievances such as lack of accessibility to resources, lack of career progression, poor
treatment by their colleagues and staffs. The present study aims to assess the level of
perceived discrimination experienced by the non-regular teachers in the higher
educational institutes in Manipur. The study was conducted on a sample of 215 non
regular teachers working in different higher educational institutes in two districts of
Manipur: Imphal East and Imphal West. Findings from the study indicates that more
than half of the study sample fall under moderate and high level of perceived
discrimination. It was also found that there is significant association between perceived
discrimination and study variables: age, education qualification, and years of teaching
experience. Findings suggest an undeniable need to address the working condition of
the non-regular teachers.