Candle Light Vigil to protest against assault on Higher Education
No to Graded Autonomy and Fragmentation of the university
Teachers gathered for a Candle Light Vigil at Parliament Street today to protest against a host of measures that constitute an assault against public funded education in the country.
Primary among these is the UGC’s move to categorise Universities on the basis of NAAC & NIRF ranking and grant Graded Autonomy. The “Autonomy” to offer self financing courses, establishing self financing Centers and freedom to increase fees can only be seen as a push towards commercialisation by withdrawing govt. spending on Higher Education. The burden of sustaining Central & State Universities is being shifted to students and parents. Categorisation of Universities will also have a negative bearing on student’s degrees and their employment opportunities as it will create biases in the minds of employers.
More than three months have passed since the Pay Review Committee submitted its report on Revision of pay for teachers, but the Govt. is completely silent on the matter and has not even made public the report for discussions/ consultations. The Point Based Promotion scheme implemented with the VI Pay Commission has created a zero promotion situation for teachers. The DUTA once again reiterated its demand for withdrawal of retrospective application of API in DU which has resulted in denial of promotion to over 3000 teachers.
The DUTA also demanded that the Judgement of the Double Bench, High Court which upheld pension as a basic right and granted Pension to all categories of teachers employed as on 1987 should be implemented it toto.
Teachers courted arrest when they were stopped from marching towards Parliament Street for the Candle Light Vigil. After their release, they resumed the Candle Light Vigil on the Parliament Street.
Leave a Reply