DUTA Press Release, 1 July 2016: DUTA Flash Protest against Smriti Irani at Khalsa College

More than a 100 teachers assembled at the gates of Khalsa College in a flash action programme called by the DUTA at very short notice to express their anger against the Government for their anti-education policies which has denied promotions and permanent appointments to thousands of teachers in Delhi University alone. The DUTA sent out a call for teachers to assemble after getting to know that the HRD Minister, Smt. Smriti Irani, was going to be present at a function at Khalsa College. It is shocking that the Minister chooses to visit the Delhi University campus at a time when the DUTA is boycotting admissions and evaluations without even bothering to address the teachers or meet their representatives to attempt to find redressal for the issues agitating them. This reveals the complete disdain for teachers on the part of a Government that seems to think that teachers have little role to play in shaping the future of the youth. Holding placards and braving extremely humid conditions, teachers raised slogans for more than two hours. Instead of the Minister of HRD meeting the protesting teacher they were taken away by force to Maurice Nagar Police Station and detained for well over an hour.

Meanwhile, teachers continued to boycott admissions and held dharnas, interacted with parents and students to explain the effects of the government’s anti-education policy on public-funded institutions which are being eroded consistently to pave the way for private players. Parents from other states who have travelled thousands of kilometres to ensure affordable and quality education for their children were shocked at the state of affairs in what is considered to be one of the premier educational institutions of the country. They expressed their sympathies with the teachers’ cause as they shared their experiences of what was happening in other universities which have being witnessing a steady decline with very few teachers catering to large numbers of students.

The DUTA will continue to boycott admissions and evaluation of first and second year examinations as the teachers’ are left with no choice today with a ministry that is blind to what a premier university of the country has been reduced to and instead thinks that e-learning is the panacea to all the problems facing higher education today.


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