Tamil Nadu government announces salary hike for guest lecturers

According to a report by The Hindu, the Tamil Nadu government has issued an order to increase the honorarium of guest lecturers working in various colleges across the state by ₹5,000. Implementing the announcement made during the Assembly budget session, the Higher Education Department issued this Government Order (G.O.) on Thursday, 12 November, 2026.

Under this measure, the salary hike will come into effect from 1 November, 2026, and the additional honorarium will be paid from the coming month. This decision will benefit a large number of teachers working in various government institutions in the state. A total of 8,741 guest lecturers are working in Government Arts and Science Colleges and Government Education Colleges. Additionally, 319 guest lecturers are serving in Government Engineering Colleges and 586 in Government Polytechnic Colleges.

As per the new rules, guest lecturers in Government Arts and Science Colleges, Engineering Colleges, and Education Colleges will now receive a monthly honorarium of ₹35,000. Meanwhile, guest lecturers working in Government Polytechnic Colleges will now receive a salary of ₹30,000. This increased salary will place an additional financial burden on the government. For the salaries of lecturers in Government Arts and Science Colleges and Education Colleges, the government will have to bear an additional monthly expenditure of ₹4.37 crore. Similarly, there will be an additional monthly expenditure of ₹45.25 lakh for guest lecturers in Engineering and Polytechnic Colleges.

After obtaining approval from the Finance Department, the Higher Education Department has allocated an additional amount of ₹24.12 crore to make payments of the additional honorarium for the current financial year by the end of March 2027. It is noteworthy that when the demand for grants was presented for the Higher Education Department, Higher Education Minister P. Viswanath had made the announcement regarding the salary hike for guest lecturers on the floor of the Assembly.

The Higher Education Department in Tamil Nadu manages various government colleges and educational institutions in the state. This department was responsible for maintaining education standards and academic administration in the colleges.