DUTA Press Conference, 10.10.2013: Recent “raids” by the VC – an attempt to malign teachers

The Staff Associations of four colleges, HRC, Hindu College, KMC and Ramjas College, and the DUTA jointly addressed a Press Conference today at IWPC on the issue of the VC’s attempt to malign the teachers of these colleges on charges of absenteeism following the “raids” carried out by him.

The DUTA condemns in strongest terms the motivated raids conducted by the Vice-Chancellor and other officials of the University in these colleges. On 30th September and 1st October, the Vice-Chancellor and his team entered these colleges accompanied by representatives of the media and barged into several classes unannounced. He disrupted ongoing classes and highhandedly quizzed teachers about pedagogy and the course content in front of the students. Some classrooms were found empty and the Vice-Chancellor without verifying facts ordered the Principals of the respective colleges to issue memos to the teachers. This was clearly done not out of any concern for the teaching-learning process but to malign the teaching community which has been critical of his unprecedented misgovernance and disastrous academic restructuring. This is part of a systematic design to push through changes for considerations other than academic and without consultations with teachers or scrutiny by them. That the Vice-Chancellor has no regards for academic standards is evident also by the fact that he has caused demotivation and demoralisation in the teaching community by not filling up permanent positions. This situation of half the teachers being non-permanent is bound to cause a flight of talent away from the teaching profession. The ill-conceived Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) has grievously undermined the academic standards of the University. Students whom the VC met during his raids in the four colleges told him that they find the foundation courses irrelevant and an unnecessary repetition of what they had learnt in school. Confronted with wide criticism from students, teachers and academia in general, the Vice-Chancellor is desperate to divert attention from his own complete lack of accountability.

The DUTA urges the Vice-Chancellor to address the real issues in the University, reopen dialogue with the DUTA, which he has denied ever since he took over as VC, and stop demeaning the teaching community.