DU to discuss teachers appointment proposal soon; faculty oppose changed criteria

DU teachers are demanding immediate withdrawal of the proposal which according to them will exclude almost all serving ad-hoc and temporary teachers.

A section of Delhi University teachers have come out against faculty appointment proposal likely to be discussed in the Executive Council meeting to be held this Friday. These faculty members are demanding a December 2019 discussion with the Vice-Chancellor to give priority to ad-hoc teachers in interviews while appointing full-time faculty members in DU and its affiliated colleges.

The Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) has been demanding the absorption of ad-hoc and temporary teachers through one-time University Grants Commission (UGC) Regulation. As per a letter, the EC meeting to be held on October 29, has one of the recommendations which proposes for screening and or shortlisting criteria for the direct recruitment of assistant professors in the University Departments and or Colleges.

The teachers are demanding immediate withdrawal of this proposal as they feel this might exclude almost all serving ad-hoc and temporary teachers.

In December 2019, it was discussed that the faculty appointed and working on ad-hoc, temporary or contract basis and meeting the eligibility criteria shall be shortlisted for interview in the respective university and/or its colleges.

The screening criteria awards 25℅ weightage to PhD degrees: which according to DUTA is a disproportionate sum that will exclude all candidates without PhDs. This will be particularly discriminatory in disciplines like English, Economics, Commerce, History and Mathematics where PhDs are difficult to attain early in career. The high weightage also does not take into account the disparity in the quality of PhDs done at various universities but will privilege candidates from other places over the incumbents in DU.

The screening criteria award higher marks to those with scores of 80% and above in PG and UG, which leads to teachers from disciplines like Languages, Humanities and Social Sciences losing scores. High scores like these are also not awarded universally across Indian universities (including by DU) particularly to students who graduated in previous decades (some of who are incumbent/serving ad hoc teachers in DU), causing another layer of problems through the criteria's homogenizing approach. Such teachers despite their track record in academic as well as professional work will not even be called for the interview.

Academics for Action and Development, another association of teachers have stated that it is opposed to anything detrimental to absorption- be it screening and presentation as proposed in the Agenda of EC.

AAD has alleged that the screening and shortlisting criteria have been developed by a committee, which held no discussion with the stakeholders. The criteria are actually going to work as rejection and exclusionary criteria for thousands of ad-hoc and temporary teachers, who have been working for years without any study leave and research grants for projects,” it stated in a statement.

Read More:

• SC asks Central Govt if it wants to ‘revisit’ Rs 8 lakh income for EWS Category
• AICTE permits three Haryana technical institutes to start UG courses in Hindi
• UGC defers mandatory PhD for faculty recruitment to 2023; Academics welcome decision