DUTA Press Release, 23-6-2016

More than a thousand teachers marched from Feroze Shah Kotla Road, along Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, to the UGC, holding books and publications in their hands that they planned to leave at the UGC. This was a symbolic protest against the alienation of teachers, the flight of talent and the destruction of higher education as a result of the policies of the UGC/ MHRD.

Teachers have been demanding the complete roll-back of the PBAS/API (a quantified and bureaucratic method of teachers’ assessment) that has resulted in denial of any promotions for the last eight years. It has also led to a severe decline in the quality of both teaching and research and a drop in the global ranking of Indian universities. DU’s drop in global rank from 254 in 2007 to 490 in 2015  coincides with the API and a host of other ill-conceived academic experimentations. Denial of promotions has effectively destroyed the parity between teachers and All-India Services where time-bound promotion is given.

The other major demand of the teachers is the immediate and urgent filling-up of 5000 vacant posts following the correct reservation roster against which teachers have been kept ad-hoc, temporary and guest under conditions of great uncertainty, economic hardship and exploitation. This has been done deliberately to cut costs and eventually downsize the university, as was attempted by the recent UGC Gazette Notification that arbitrarily changed the workload of teachers. Since the reservation policy was implemented in DU very late, the denial of permanent appointments has affected the marginalized sections the most.

Denial of promotions and permanent appointments has made the teaching profession even more unattractive for future entrants and has led to an exodus of talented teachers. This flight of talent has resulted in a further decline in the quality of education imparted in public-funded institutions.

The Rally was addressed by Shri. Sanjeev Jha, leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, who pointed out that his party had increased the budget for education, started teacher friendly programmes and promised financial support for new courses started in the 12 colleges fully funded by the Delhi Government. This is in contrast with the Central Govt. that has reduced the budget for education and refused financial support for new courses. In fact, the UGC has asked Delhi University colleges wishing to start new courses to do so in self-financing mode that would make the fees prohibitive for most students.

The teachers were prevented from reaching the UGC by three barricades set up by the police. After repeated unsuccessful requests to be allowed to place their books peacefully at the gates of the UGC, they turned around and marched to the ITO crossing where they formed a human chain and placed their books and publications. Several students’ organisations also joined the rally.

The DUTA will assess the situation in its Executive meeting to be held on Saturday, 25 June 2016.