Delhi University urges UGC to sanction over 3,000 additional posts to maintain student-teacher ratio

NEW DELHI: Delhi University has urged the University Grants Commission (UGC) to sanction more than 3,000 additional teaching and non-teaching posts across 46 colleges to maintain the student-teacher ratio, officials said on Friday.

The student-teacher ratio has been impacted due to the implementation of the 10 per cent reservation for the EWS category in admissions, they said. The varsity has also requested the Delhi government's Department of Higher Education to sanction hundreds of teaching and non-teaching posts across 12 colleges funded by the government, a senior varsity official told PTI.

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Letters were sent to the UGC and the Delhi government on Thursday with the list of colleges that need additional teaching and non-teaching posts to maintain the student-teacher ratio, the senior official said. The varsity has also demanded grants from the government and the UGC in this regard. The principals have prepared a proposal of their respective colleges for additional number of teaching posts based on the appropriate teacher-student ratio.

In the letter sent to the UGC, the DU mentioned 46 colleges, including Ramjas College, Kirori Mal College, Hans Raj College and Miranda House, where additional teaching and non-teaching posts are needed. A copy of the letter is with PTI. The list mentions the need for 3,035 teaching and non-teaching posts in 46 colleges.

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The sanctioning of the maximum number of additional posts of teachers is required at Hansraj College (92), followed by Gargi College (91). The three colleges that need 80 or more teachers are Deshbandhu College (80), Dyal Singh College (81), and University College of Medical Sciences (80). Similarly, the Hindu College and University College of Medical Sciences require the maximum number of non-teaching officials (75).

The university last year sought information from its colleges on the number of additional teaching and non-teaching staff members required to deal with the “additional pressure” created due to the implementation of the 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker section (EWS) category in admissions.

"The Principals/Directors of the Colleges/Institutions have prepared the proposal for an additional number of teaching posts based on appropriate teacher-student ratio," the letter to UGC said. "Also, proper justifications for additional teaching and non-teaching posts have been given in the proposals...for consideration of sanction of additional posts and grant to the Colleges of the University of Delhi. An early approval in the matter is requested," the letter added.

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In a similar letter to the Delhi government, the varsity sends a list of 12 colleges along with the number of teaching and non-teaching faculty required there. As per the list, 804 posts need to be sanctioned across 12 colleges which include both teaching (435) and non-teaching (369) posts. In the colleges funded by the Delhi government, Acharya Narendra Dev College requires the maximum number of teaching (72) and non-teaching (81) additional staff.

The 10 per cent quota for the EWS category has led to an increase in the number of seats for students, the DU official said. However, the number of teachers and non-teaching staff has remained the same, the official said. Reservation for EWS category for admission to all colleges and universities was implemented in 2019.