DUTA to boycott DU admission process

In a bid to intensify its campaign against the University Grants Commission (UGC) notification which purportedly increases the working hours of teachers, the Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) has decided to boycott the admission process in the university.

"This is a do or die situation for us and we are ready to die for it. The secretary of Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has refused to meet us. The UGC has also not given any assurance to us. So far only a threat was given but now we have decided to boycott the admission process", DUTA president Nandita Narayan said.

DUTA has been protesting against the UGC notification which they (teachers) say will increase the workload of Assistant Professors from 16 hours per week to 22 hours per week and that of Associate Professors from 14 to 20 hours.

The teachers said that as many as 4,000 ad hoc teachers in Delhi University (DU) stand to lose their jobs due to the UGC notification as the number of teachers required per subject would be lowered.

Narayan also threatened that the teachers would "stop" the functioning of the university when it reopens if their demands are not met.

"We may just stop the functioning of the university if the notification is not withdrawn. Fifty per cent of the teachers (ad hoc teachers) are already out and rest of us are ready to leave. Then you can teach the students yourself," Narayan told IANS.

On May 24, DU teachers had decided to boycott the evaluation process which would delay the results of the current students.

The filing of forms for admission in DU started on June 2 and would go on till June 19.

The first cut-off will be declared on June 28 while the fifth (final) cut-off would be out on July 16.

The boycott call by DUTA will severely affect the admission process as teachers are required during counselling, to decide cut-off and for various other things.

--IANS

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