Students’ leaders stand on ongoing struggle of DU teachers

19-06-2016

On May 4 the University Grants Commission notified an unlikely amendments in its 2010 regulations which included altering of teachers’ workload requirements and redefined Direct Teaching Hours.

 The old Direct Teaching Hours included Lectures, Practicals, Project Supervision and Tutorials but according to New Amendment Notification, Tutorials have been removed now and only includes- Lectures, Practicals and Project Supervision.

In this new notification the number of teaching hours is increased.

·     An Assistant Professor was required to teach 16 hours weekly. This is changed to 18+6* hours per week.

·         Associate Professors and Professors 14 hours, including time spent on tutorials and practicals is changed to16+6* for Associate Professor, and 14+6* for Professors.

* These 6 hours per week include  Tutorials, Remedial Classes, Seminars, Administrative Responsibilities, Innovation and Updating of course contents.

All these changes were made without specific reasons provided by UGC.

 Teachers from universities all over India, except the All India Federation of University & College Teachers (AIFUCTO), have already issued statements in protest regarding this new amendment notification.

The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) and the DU teachers have been boycotting evaluation of answer scripts of all subjects for roughly 1.3 lakh undergraduate students since May 24.

“No teacher have been promoted since last ten years because of changing UGC rules and Impossible Academic Performance Index (API) Criteria.  4,000 Teachers will be jobless and they are not 22 year people but those who have dedicated their lives to academics.” Said Abha Dev Habib, Member of Executive Council, University of Delhi. 

Various Student wings have joined hands to protest against these guidelines making the Protest more powerful. Our correspondents interviewed them to know about their views:-

“The quality of education will be reduced and we are against API and the job cuts.there are experiments going on by MHRD since last year on Students thus we are standing with DUTA” – Vikas Chikara,NSUI

“This draconian circular(UGC gazette) is out and a step towards privitisation of education which should be stopped or else it will result in the degradation in education quality”- Prashant Mukherjee,SFI

“The API system and increase of workload will make teachers suffer and student suffer too that’s why we are supporting this, The Central Government is degrading the quality of education in the name of increasing it.”- Anupam Kumar,CYSS

“We are supporting teachers,we are just requesting teachers to continue their protest but not by boycotting checking and admissions”,Chattrapal Yadav,ABVP,Jt.Secretary,DUSU.

“DUTA is not fighting only for teachers but for students as well and for the entire education system of this country,AISA believes in affordable and quality education for every student and this is why we are supporting them” – Madhurima Kundu,AISA

 (Report by: Meghna Mehra and Rajat Mohanta)

 

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