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The teachers of DU have refused to evaluate the answer sheets in protest against a UGC notification which increases their workload and due to which the exam results of undergraduate courses in the Delhi University could be delayed this year.
The protest also may lead to around 5,000 temporary and guest teachers losing their jobs. It was only on last week that the examinations were ended and the centralized evaluation process was to begin at 13 centers.
Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) has called for the boycott of evaluation duty and none of the 3,000 teachers turned up after their urge.
While giving the information DUTA president Nandita Narain said, “ The boycott is for four days only and we will soon decide the future course of action in our general body meeting on Saturday.”
The nodal body of higher education University Grants Commission (UGC) had increased the workload of assistant professors from 16 hours of ‘direct teaching’ to 24 hours per week while for associate professors, it went up from 14 to 22 hours per week which the association has strongly opposed.
DUTA said that since the course material would be covered by “overworked” professors, the move may lead to the retrenchment of temporary, guest and ad-hoc teachers.
“The notification would also make promotions difficult for them. Delhi University's teachers are promoted on the basis of the infamous Academic Performance Indicator (API) - a point system for different parameters, including student feedback,” said another teacher.
“The API has been made more stringent and emphasizes on research and now the teachers have been assigned extra workload, leaving little time to prepare for quality lectures and research,” said another teacher.
“The provision of this notification is supposed to spoil the public universities while leaving very little scope for quality teaching, learning and research,” he added further .
The teachers also strongly condemned the move on 55% cut in the government’s budget for the UGC.
“Due to the protest, it could delay exam results, which are usually announced by the end of June every year. The UGC has to seriously look into the matter otherwise, our calendar will be affected said another teacher.
It is to be noted that around 3,000 teachers were scheduled to evaluate papers at 13 centers — Sri Venkateswara College, Maitreyi College, Dyal Singh College, Miranda House, Kirori Mal College, Gargi College, Kalindi College, Deshbandhu College, Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma, and Keshav Mahavidyalaya College.
Staff associations at the Jesus and Mary College, Miranda House, Sri Ram College of Commerce, Rajdhani College and Hansraj College passed resolutions strongly condemning the notification.
