DU teachers decide to call off strike after 40 days, to resume evaluation process

NEW DELHI, JUNE 18: The Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) has ended its strike after 40 days today and agreed to join the evaluation process for different undergraduate programmes. The teachers association members, who had been boycotting the evaluation process, came back to work after Vice-Chancellor’s assurance to continue all the ad-hoc teachers for the upcoming academic session.

The DUTA executive meeting held today in the morning has decided to discontinue the evaluation boycott, said Dr. Vishwa Raj Sharma, Executive Council member, DUTA speaking to Careers360. He added that during the General Body Meeting that is scheduled for the evening, the council will look for alternative methods to move ahead with their demands.

DU teachers have been boycotting evaluation work of undergraduate courses since 9 May 2018. The teachers have been alleging that the recent move to reform the higher education is a policy assault in the form of Scheme of Autonomous Colleges, Graded Autonomy and subversion of reservation policy.

“We too are worried about our students and assure them that we are committed to their future. The teachers will be returning to the evaluation center tomorrow. The results might be delayed by 15 to 30 days,” Dr. Sharma said.

In a statement released by DUTA, the VC has assured that DU will try to keep all the working ad-hoc faculty in the new academic session. However, the impending Supreme Court hearing on July 2 will decide the future course of events in the matter.

Speaking on the recent progress, Dr. Kalpana Bhakuni, Principal, Kamala Nehru College said, “This is an outdated issue that is expected to be resolved at the earliest. Many evaluators have paid heed to our plea and have joined the evaluation camp.”

However, the students’ community is going through their own share of the dilemma. A final year student of Gargi College who is eagerly awaiting her results says, “Though I completely understand that this strike is in favor of the student community as well, and to pressurise the government to not to have DU amongst the list of privatised universities, they should understand that the final year students do have a lot of plans with regard to their jobs, giving banking and other entrance exams where you need the graduation result, and it is important for students who are planning to go aboard for further studies.”

“Graduation result is extremely important for us, hence they should consider evaluating third-year answer sheets and then they can continue their strike by not checking the first and second-year answer sheets,” she suggests, supporting the cause.
Sachin Nirmala Narayanan, Associate Professor, Dyal Singh College said that DUTA will give a call for intense struggle including Strike if any attempts are made to cause displacement of teacher’s by using the UGC's 5 March Notification on Roster.