Thousands of teachers from Delhi University marched to Parliament Street under the banner of Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) on Monday demanding one-time regulation to absorb ad hoc teachers working at the university. Several teachers were also detained by the police but later let go.
Following protests at the Vice-Chancellor’s office, where teachers had occupied university offices and held demonstrations, the Ministry of Human Resource Development had acceded to some demands of teachers, including withdrawal of a controversial circular calling for the appointment of guest teachers in vacancies arising in the current academic session.
Demands not conceded
“However, the demands for absorption and counting of total years of service for promotions have not been conceded.” DUTA said in a statement.
“The inhuman and exploitative conditions under which ad hoc teachers have been forced to work for years, including the denial of minimum employee rights like maternity leave, can only be mitigated through absorption,” the union said.
In a letter to the MHRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal on Sunday, the DUTA raised multiple demands which it said had not been addressed, including the release of the second tranche of posts under the OBC and EWS expansion, implementation of the Kale Committee report, sanctioning of posts for self-financing courses, withdrawal of the special leave petition filed against grant of pension to retired teachers and “illegal recovery” being made by the administration from teachers.
Teachers in DU have been observing an indefinite strike and a boycott of invigilation and evaluation of the ongoing semester examinations as a mark of protest. “If the MHRD continues to ignore the DUTA’s pending demands, it will face the collective ire of the teaching community,” DUTA said.
