Office Bearers of the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) met the Chief Minister of Delhi Smt. Sheila Dixit yesterday, in an effort to seek her help for the resolution of long-standing issues within the University, which are threatening to destabilize the teaching-learning processes and rob the University of its Credibility and Prestige. The DUTA representatives apprised Smt. Dixit of the Vice Chancellor’s stubborn attempts to stonewall all dialogue and evade the DUTA, his callous unwillingness to start appointments in the four thousand teaching vacancies despite repeated appeals by the DUTA and directives from the MHRD and UGC to do so, as well as the patently undemocratic and illegal means through which he is trying to impose changes in the name of academic reforms in the University.
Smt. Dixit expressed alarm about the Vice Chancellor’s behavior and promised to do everything at her disposal to alleviate the legitimate grievances of teachers. She was also reminded of the spontaneous manner in which the Delhi Education Minister Dr. Kiran Walia expressed solidarity with the teachers of the University by attending the 24-hour Hunger Strike of the DUTA Executive on 28 August and supporting the One-day Token Strike of the teachers. In her speech, she had exhorted the DU Vice Chancellor to initiate dialogue with the DUTA as it is the legitimate representative body of nine thousand teachers in the University. This sensitive gesture is in sharp contrast to the Vice Chancellor’s unwarranted and slanderous comment against the DUTA, calling it an illegal body of teachers, in a recently published interview in the Sunday Guardian.
While the DUTA deems the Vice Chancellor’s comment as misguided and unfortunate, it views the Chief Minister’s generous assurances in an optimistic spirit and pegs its hopes on the Delhi Government’s timely intervention to stem the rot that has been allowed to set into the University and is robbing young teachers of any hope for justice in their profession.
S.D. Siddiqui, Secretary Amar Deo Sharma, President
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