DUTA Press Release, 21.05.2016

The DUTA rejects the latest Amendments to UGC Regulations (2010), notified through the Gazette of India on 10 May 2016, as they spell disaster for the teaching-learning processes, and endanger the livelihood of a significant section of currently-employed teachers.

The most shocking feature of these amendments threatens immediate job cuts in thousands in every university across the country. If implemented, in DU alone, the jobs of 5000 existing teachers stands jeopardized. In contravention to the UGC Regulations of 2010, the present amendments dictate a 40-50%-increase in the number of hours a teacher is required to teach per week. As a result of this move, approximately 40-50% of the existing teaching jobs will be lost. The danger looms not only on thousands of teachers working for years in ad hoc and temporary capacity, but also on permanent faculty.

Further, such teaching norms will adversely affect academic standards through unreasonably long teaching hours and unjustifiably high student-teacher ratio. This will have a more adverse impact on the Global Rankings of Indian universities, pulling them down further, by several notches.

These amendments seek to redefine direct teaching hours as exclusive of Tutorials. The devaluation of small-group Tutorials and Preceptorials is matched by the devaluation of Practicals. Two hours spent on guiding student in Practical has been made equivalent to one hour spent on lecturing. This will adversely impact attention given to the variable learning needs of students and hit the academic performance of students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds.

A disproportionally high number of Lecture-hours will also leave teachers with no time to pursue any meaningful research, which is essential for superior Knowledge-production, growth of teachers and institutions.

These amendments also retain the API-based PBAS system. Its irrational quantification of teachers’ performance and requirement of accumulation of points has demoralised teachers and caused deliberate denial and delay in promotions. The DUTA, FEDCUTA and AIFUCTO have been jointly fighting a prolonged struggle for the removal of the faulty API for teachers. The UGC had even set up the Prof. Arun Nigavekar Committee for this purpose. However, in complete departure from the past practice, the Committee did not consult with the All-India bodies of teachers and drew up its recommendations in a completely unilateral manner. The DUTA had urged the MHRD for consultations before proceeding on the basis of the recommendations of this committee. The DUTA views the jettisoning of the consultation processes as unwise for academic decision making. Shying away from consultations often suggests hidden agenda.

More questionable features have been introduced through these amendments. The stipulation that research articles exclusively published in a list of UGC-approved journals and in books by UGC-approved publishers will count for eligibility toward promotion makes it a system of promotion-denial, given the paucity of avenues. Limiting it also constitutes an assault on academic freedom, since even the most reputed journals in many disciplines are known not to accept non-orthodox and views critical of mainstream opinion. While the irrational API system has encouraged proliferation of spurious journals, choice of journals and publishers by any interested body is worse than the disease. The API-based PBAS needs to go

The DUTA rejects the draconian Gazette Notification on API and Workload. It appeals to the UGC and MHRD to withdraw these Amendments immediately and instead, engage the DUTA, FEDCUTA and AIFUCTO in meaningful consultation. Such hasty decisions will only alienate the teaching community and disrupt all efforts to improve the standards of university-education. Bureaucratic adamancy will only invite the collective anger and non-cooperation of the teaching community.

The DUTA has deliberated on the issue at length in its Executive Meeting today, which was attended by large numbers of teachers. After the meeting, teachers burnt copies of the Gazette Notification at the Arts Faculty gate.

It has unanimously resolved to call for a four-day Boycott of the Evaluation process in the current Semester, starting from Tuesday, 24 May. During these days, Staff Associations will hold emergency meetings in all colleges to deliberate on action-programmes. On 28 May, it will reassess the situation and the Government’s response in its General Body Meeting. If the Government fails to register the extent of the teaching community’s anguish and withdraw the Gazette Notification on Amendments, the DUTA will be forced to consider an intensification of its stir, including Total Boycott of the Admissions process in the University.