Aam Aadmi Party teachers' organisation to fight DU polls

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party teachers' organisation will fight the Delhi University's executive and academic councils elections, a party leader said on Wednesday. AAP MP Sushil Gupta said just the way the Kejriwal government had made "significant improvements" inside government schools, the party wanted to make similar qualitative changes in Delhi University.

Gupta said Narendra Kumar Pandey has been nominated as the candidate of the Delhi Teachers Association (DTA) for the executive council and Sunil Kumar as the academic council candidate for the elections to be held on Friday.

Addressing the media, DTA in charge Hansraj Suman said the BJP-led central government had been saying for the past five years that they would regularise ad-hoc teachers. "But nothing has been done.... When our members will be elected in the executive council, our first priority will be given the same kinds of benefits to the ad-hoc teachers like the permanent teachers," he said.

DU elections

The Delhi University has more than 6,000 teachers and 40 per cent of them are women who are between the age of 30-50 years and are teaching in the university for the last 15-20 years, according to the professor. "We will also ensure that there should be a quota for the children of ad-hoc teachers in the admission," he said.

A committee was formed by a parliamentary committee and it suggested that the SC, ST and OBC be given reservation since 1997, but the Delhi University has never accepted and implemented this decision, he said.

It has also asked for reservation in the posts of professor and principal, he said. "Most of the posts of the principals are vacant and we will fight to fill these posts." In 2007, OBC reservation was implemented in Delhi University, but it stopped filling these posts after 2014, Suman said.

"We work to fill these posts. The central government had given 10 per cent reservation for the EWS in 2019, but Delhi University has only given EWS posts in some of the departments. No college under the Delhi University has filled EWS posts till today," he said.

"There are around 700 disabled teachers in Delhi University. But it''s unfortunate that only six-seven colleges under Delhi University have special toilets and the facilities for people with disabilities," Suman said.

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