DUTA Letter to MHRD: 4.7.2019
Sh. Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’
Hon’ble Minister, Human Resources Development
Shastri Bhavan
New Delhi – 110001
Hon’ble Minister, Human Resources Development
Shastri Bhavan
New Delhi – 110001
4.7.2019
Sub: Request to ensure renewal of appointment of ad-hoc teachers to mitigate their hardship because of the implementation of EWS Reservation in teaching cadre
Dear Shri Pokhriyal,
The DUTA welcomes passing of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Bill, 2019 and congratulates you. The Bill was an essential to ensure representation of socio-economically marginalized sections as mandated by the Constitution.
As the universities gear towards implementing EWS Reservation for students and teachers, we write to draw your attention to crisis faced by the DU and its colleges on count of EWS Expansion and EWS reservation in teaching cadre. As the University reopens on 20.07.2019, we seek your immediate intervention.
1. Implementation of expansion on account of EWS (EWS Expansion)
The Government of India/ MHRD (as per the UGC letter of 10.06.2019) has allocated an additional amount of Rs 143.76 crores to the University (under OH-36 Salary) and Rs 47.24 crores for constituent/affiliated Colleges towards increase in teaching and non-teaching staff for the implementation of the EWS Expansion. Further, the letter stipulates that the money allocated to the University and colleges infrastructural needs have to be sought from HEFA under window 4.
While the DUTA welcomes that the process of allocating funds towards the implementation of EWS expansion has started, we find that it falls short of the requirements as given by the University and its colleges. It is important that the gap is carefully studied and the MHRD allocates more funds as required to make this a quality Expansion.
Further, we wish to reiterate our opposition to loan based grants through HEFA and request that this is reviewed. The expense of expansion/increased student intake should not fall on the shoulders of students. As a public funded Central University, DU caters to a very heterogeneous group of students. Over 60% of students come from socio-economically weaker backgrounds and pushing the burden of expansion on shoulders of parents and students is not justified and can be only viewed as commercialization of public funded higher education. We demand for a 100% grant based funding towards maintenance and expansion.
As the academic session in University of Delhi starts on 20 July 2019, we request you to ensure that processes required for the sanction of additional teaching and non- teaching posts is expedited.
As of today, Delhi University and its colleges find themselves ill-prepared to implement the EWS expansion. Despite several reminders to the UGC and the MHRD, the OBC Expansion (implemented in 2007) has remained incomplete. Most DU Colleges have not received final sanction for the second tranche of the promised teaching posts. Neither have colleges received any additional posts as required for the proper implementation of the Choice Based Credit System (implemented in 2015). We seek your intervention for an immediate release of the second tranche posts. Short of these promised posts, the posts released under EWS Expansion alone will not help us attain an appropriate student teacher ratio necessary for quality education.
2. EWS Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre
Over 4500 teachers in Delhi University are working on adhoc basis. These teachers have been denied the chance of becoming permanent as interviews were held sparsely and sporadically over the last ten years. As the EWS Reservation is going to decrease teaching posts towards UR candidates (especially as the University and colleges have not been sanctioned additional teaching posts as of now), the displaced teachers will face hardships and certainty despite their best contribution.
We urge you that (i) the EWS Reservation in teaching posts be implemented only with the release of additional posts to colleges and the University and (ii) all ad-hoc teachers who were in service as on the last day of the previous term/semester, may be given joining on the first day of this term (20.07.2019). We wish to bring to your notice that such a pro-teacher step was taken previously by the Minister, HRD as part of crisis management. The MHRD ensured joining of all serving ad-hoc teachers on the first working day as the University reopened in July 2014 after the rollback of FYUP. The UGC had instructed the University and its colleges to give joining on the first day to all serving ad-hoc teachers in the wake of policy changes which were bound to deny many teachers their jobs. These steps are essential to retain talented teachers, especially when the country is short of qualified teachers.
Your urgent interventions on these matters are essential for quality meaningful EWS Expansion and to safeguard interests of hundreds of teachers who have been serving on ad-hoc capacity and are today faced with great uncertainty. We also request you to give us an opportunity to meet you personally to discuss these issues.
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
| Rajib Ray President, DUTA Vivek Chaudhary Secretary, DUTA |
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