DU teachers oppose Sisodia’s seat reservation proposal

Manish Sisodia’s idea of reserving seats for students of the national capital in  Delhi University hasn’t gone down well with the varsity’s faculty. Teacher’s have raised objections to the proposal on the ground that DU is a central university and established through an Act of Parliament.

Aditya Narayan Mishra, Executive Council member of Delhi University, said, ‘The admissions to DU are governed by an Act, statutes and ordinances. We appeal to Delhi government and Ministry of Human Resource Development to preserve the central character of DU by not bending before any regional pressure which seeks to reduce it to the level of a state university by introducing various degrees of reservations for local students. We appeal to the Delhi government to open more colleges under its state universities in order to enhance Gross Enrollment Ratio.

‘We want to draw Delhi government’s attention to the fact that DU is one of the oldest central universities in the country, established by an Act of Parliament. DU has not only a pan-Indian character, but also a cosmopolitan nature both in terms of its faculty and students,’ said Rajesh Jha, professor of Political Science at Rajdhani College.

Jha went on to say that a large number of students from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from North-East to Konkan are drawn to DU because of its central character. 

‘Any attempt to alter this character will be counterproductive for an institution of excellence such as DU, which draws the best talents from the entire country. The students of Delhi are also beneficiaries of this pooling in of pan-Indian talent, which motivates them to strive for better results,’ he added.

Opposing the proposal, Delhi University Teachers Association president Nandita Narain said: ‘We totally disagree with this announcement. We don’t want any compromise on this. We are looking for an appointment with education minister in this regard.’

However, vice-president of DUTA and AAP MLA from Timarpur refused to comment on the matter and said that he would like to speak to Sisodia about it. 

Sisodia had on Saturday said that seats must be reserved for capital city’s students in Delhi University.

On 1 October, Congress has made a proposal to implement 90 per cent reservation for students from Delhi in DU, which had not gone down well with teachers and academicians. 

They have questioned the government’s move contending that the decision will create divisions amongst students studying in the varsity.