Over 30,000 teachers of Central Universities across the country are on a two day strike from Thursday. The teachers are demanding changes in the regulation on service conditions which seeks to link their promotion to output. The teachers did not take class in the 35 Central Universities to protest the "negative conditions" in the regulation.

A N Mishra, president of Federation of Central University Teachers Associations (FEDCUTA) said, "whenever the new scale comes in the service conditions does not change in any other field then why is it required in teaching. And even if they are, it should have been in consensus with us." He said the regulations, prepared and approved by the University Grants Commission (UGC), if adopted will force teachers to pay more attention to other activities rather than concentrate on quality teaching.

The UGC had approved a new regulation which links promotion of university teachers to their output in research and teaching rather than years of experience, on January 16. The Regulation for minimum qualification of teachers will now be considered by the government. The teachers are also organising a protest march on Friday against the new regulations.