A delegation of teachers protesting against the latest gazette notification of the University Grants Commission (UGC) met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday.
Members from Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) and Federation of Central Universities Teachers’ Associations (FCUTA) met Ms. Gandhi at her residence to apprise her about the situation of teachers in connection with the latest UGC notification.
The notification has increased the workload for assistant professors from 16 hours of “direct teaching” per week (including tutorials) to 18 hours, plus another six of tutorials, bringing the total up to 24 hours. Similarly, the work hours of associate professors have been increased from 14 to 22 hours. This also leaves no space for ad-hoc teachers.
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“Because of this notification, almost 4,500 teachers of DU and around one lakh teachers in the State and the central universities have already become jobless. These qualified teachers are facing no avenues for promotions due to stringent measures in the form of on Academic Performance Indicator (API),” said a statement from the teachers.
“The delegation apprised her (Ms. Gandhi) of the present situation that shall ultimately destroy the public funded universities and would deny access to higher education to the poor and marginalised sections of the society. She was also briefed about the complete participation of DU teachers in the ongoing struggle,” it added.
The delegation requested her to intervene so that the crisis in the higher education is averted by the complete roll back of the notification and the API. The teachers claimed that the Congress president gave them assurance of her “support”.
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DU teachers have been boycotting the evaluation of undergraduate exams for last eleven days against amendments to UGC regulations that, they argue, will lead to job cuts to the tune of 50 per cent and drastically increase pupil-teacher ratio in higher education.