The teachers’ boycott to check answer sheets in the Delhi University (DU) has loomed uncertainty over students, especially on the ones who are in the final year of their graduation.
With the call of refusal of evaluation by the Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) against the University Grant Commission’s (UGC) gazette notification, the results of the thousands of students of DU’s various colleges will be delayed.
The boycott started on May 24, a few days after the evaluation had started. The teachers are protesting against UGC’s notification. According to the teachers, the notification will bring down the number of teaching positions by one third and students say in Annual Performance Index (API) will bring “unreasonable” terms in promotion of the teaching staff.
The new notification also increases the workload for assistant professors from 16 hours per week to 22 hours per week (including tutorials). The work hours of associate professors will go up from 14 to 20 hours in a week. This means that the number of teachers required per subject will be lowered.
In a press meet on Monday, DUTA announced that the protest against UGC notification will continue till the time UGC revokes its notification.
“If our demand is not heard by the HRD ministry or the UGC, we will intensify our protest. Also, we have called for a Satyagrah rally on Tuesday,” said Rajesh Jha, Joint Secretary of DUTA.
Also, the admission process for sports quota in DU and the period after the declaration of the cut-off lists has to be handled by the teachers. If teachers boycott the admission process as well, there could be problems. Each department appoints a head to sign on a student’s admission papers after scrutinising all relevant documents.