Delhi University Teacher’s Association (DUTA) has decided to call off the evaluation boycott against the new UGC norms,coming as a relief for all first and second year undergraduate students. This decision has been taken after the ministry and UGC decided to set up a committee to resolve DUTA’s demands.
Teachers have been boycotting the evaluation of May/June UG examinations since 24th May 2016 as sign of protest against the UGC norms which would have otherwise led to job-cuts to the rate of 50% and a higher student-teacher ratio. Also,the new gazette notification had increased the workload of both assistant and associate professors.’This boycott has been withdrawn to create a sustainable movement to ensure resolution of pending matters’ said a teacher. The evaluation boycott earlier was lifted for final year students, followed by the withdrawal of the admission process boycott,on 16th June and 5th July respectively.
However, a formal announcement will be made only after the decision is ratified in a General Body meeting of the teachers body.
Also, the teachers are likely to continue their fight against the Academic Performance Indicator (API) a stringent system of promotions,till it is completely withdrawn. ‘In a letter to newly appointed HRD Minister Prakash Javedekar,a request has been sought to demand a roster system for appointments and a committee to look into the promotion policy with retrospective effect that DU adopted that would have stopped promotions for eight years’,a DUTA statement said.
