The Hunger Strike has served the important purpose of gathering teachers, students and karamcharis and educating them about the complete failure of the University Administration to provide a stable and conducive environment for teaching-learning, and its unwillingness to confront tough questions about academic and administrative ‘reform’. Students noted that even as the Vice Chancellor can be seen ‘hard-selling’ his reform agenda to them by regularly mouthing clichés like “innovation”, “research” and “beyond-the-classroom learning”, he has not been able to cater to the basic institutional needs. The resentment against the unwieldy semester-system and the inevitable damage to teaching, wider interaction and meaningful evaluation that semesterization has caused, was also widely expressed by both students and teachers. Teachers pointed out that alienation in the University is at its peak with the authoritarian enforcement of “No Work No Pay” and the curbing of all democratic manner of dissent and protest. Despite notching up worldwide fame through their teaching and research, the teachers of the University feel dismayed and disheartened by the VC’s malicious propaganda against them.
On the other hand, the DUTA has also condemned the Vice Chancellor’s absolute indifference to the plight of SOL students whose results for the examinations conducted in May have still not been declared. While he is keen to portray his own ‘reforms’ as a step towards efficiency and more options for students, he remains unaccountable over the manner in which these students’ careers are being held to ransom in order to project the success of the semester system. Furthermore, it is shameful that the Registrar has unilaterally issued a notice withdrawing the provision of special chance to students to complete their courses beyond the prescribed time-period. The University, through this notice, has also retrospectively denied the processing of applications on the same issue that are already pending with the examination office. The elected Academic Council members have severely criticized this harsh and arbitrary move of the administration which is seen to go against the principles of fairplay and justice in academics.
Alongside the continuation of the Relay hunger Strike, DUTA has called for a “Barefoot March” tomorrow around the University campus, starting at 4 pm. Many teachers and students are expected to participate in this significant march to highlight the denial of the Right to Education to the economically weaker sections of the society through Privatisation and Commercialisation, as well as the recent attacks on the democratic Right to Protest in the University. The DUTA is keen to know whether the University has taken any concrete steps to bring justice to the girl-student who was molested by hooligans during the recent DUSU election campaign, as a result of which the University had promptly banned all manner of democratic protests and demonstrations in the campus. The DUTA has condemned that the Vice chancellor is hiding behind people’s misery in order to scuttle or evade democratic action against his unilateral functioning within the University.
S.D. Siddiqui, Secretary Amar Deo Sharma, President
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