DU teachers to call off evaluation boycott

However, the decision came late as the executive body meeting was extended till Sunday afternoon. Millennium Post had already reported that the DUTA executive body might withdraw their agitation.

According to DUTA, the decision came after the HRD Ministry and officials of the University Grants Commission (UGC) agreed to set up a committee to address their grievances.  “A formal announcement of withdrawing the boycott will be made after the decision is ratified in a General Body meeting of the teachers’ body,” reads a statement issued by DUTA.

“The negotiations have started and the administration has agreed to set up a committee to resolve our long-standing demands,” the statement added. The teachers have been boycotting the evaluation of UG first and second-year examination papers since May 24 in protest against amendments made to the UGC regulations, which they argue would lead to around 50 per cent job cuts and a drastic decrease in the pupil-teacher ratio.

When the protest started, the teachers’ association had boycotted the evaluation for all three years and later extended it to even the admission process. They announced to evaluate the examination papers of final-year students only on June 16 and rejoin the admission process on July 5.

The new gazette notification had increased the workload for assistant professors from 16 hours (including tutorials) of “direct teaching” per week to 18 hours, plus another six hours of tutorials, thereby totalling it to 24 hours. Similarly, the working hours of associate professors was increased from 14 to 22 hours per week. The teachers argued that altering the work load norms would lead to a retrenchment of 4,500 teaching staff. That amendment has since been withdrawn.

However, DUTA president Nandita Narain said they would continue to fight against the Academic Performance Indicator (API) system of promotions for teachers “till it is completely withdrawn”. “We have written to the new HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar and have sought an appointment. We also want a proper roster system for appointments and a committee to look into the promotion policy that DU adopted with retrospective effect thereby, virtually stopping all promotions for eight years,” Narain said.