DUTA Press Release: 05.09.2019
The DUTA greets teachers on the occasion of the Teachers’ Day. The DUTA held a dharna at the University to express its serious concern over the unjust treatment being meted out to teachers and the threat that the proposed National Education Policy poses to public education.
Symbolic celebration of Teachers’ Day is not a substitute for ensuring service and working conditions of teachers which are conducive to attracting and retaining talent to the teaching profession. Teachers working conditions and students learning conditions happen to be the same.
Unfortunately, however, the policies of the Government in the recent past along with administrative measures — often the lack of it — have made teachers lives miserable and caused a breakdown in the routine functioning of Delhi University. Service and working conditions of the teachers of Delhi University are deteriorating day by day with no permanent placements and promotions for almost a decade now.
Today, hundreds of teachers protested outside the Delhi University Vice Chancellor’s Office demanding Absorption, Promotion, Pension, and rejected the draft NEP.
Speaker after speaker emphasised the need for the Government to issue a one-time Regulation to absorb all existing temporary and ad hoc teachers. Permanent interviews have not taken place, due to one reason or the other, for many years now. More than 4000 ad hoc teachers are languishing without permanent jobs for no fault of theirs. Year after year, our ad hoc teachers are producing meritorious students even as their own jobs lack stability. The atrocious Screening Criteria as laid down in the UGC 2018 Regulations will result into a situation where the existing ad hoc colleagues might not be even called for permanent interviews. The 100% weightage to Selection Committees takes away whatever little advantage existing ad hoc teachers have in terms of their own teaching experience.
The DUTA unanimously demands an immediate withdrawal of the DU notification of 28.08.2019 which stopped ad hoc appointments in colleges. The UGC and the Delhi University administration must restore the older guidelines for recruitment of guest teachers in colleges. The UGC must immediately release the second tranche posts towards OBC expansion and EWS expansion as per requirement.
Speakers also expressed their anguish that permanent teachers across Delhi University colleges have been languishing without promotions for almost a decade now. The united teachers’ movement under the DUTA banner finally saw the removal of the draconian API system in colleges till the promotions to Associate Professorship. The DUTA demands that the Delhi University administration must expedite the process of promotions and give relief to the huge sections of teachers awaiting their promotions. The University must resolve the issue of the counting of past ad hoc service in favour of teachers immediately. The DUTA also demands that the UGC must immediately notify a clarification rectifying its mistake which has made the relaxed API system for teachers who want to avail pending promotions under CAS 2010 non-operational.
The DUTA demands the withdrawal of SLP against pension, release of 7th CPC salaries along with arrears at all units of Delhi University, stopping of illegal recoveries and a quick resolution to the stepping up issues.
All teachers also strongly disapproved of the MHRD’s draft NEP that is the strongest assault on the public funded education, DU and DUTA till date. This will privatise higher education and destroy the federal structure of the Delhi University breaking the University into several smaller autonomous units. It will negatively change the service conditions of teachers in order to promote private business in education.
The DUTA warns of serious long term agitation if these issues are not resolved at the earliest. The DUTA totally rejects the draft NEP and strongly demands absorption, promotion, pension, withdrawal of DU notification of 28.08.2019, release of second tranche and additional posts, resolution of stepping up issues, and release of 7th CPC salaries and arrears for all.
Rajib Ray
President, DUTA
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