RSS eyeing academic posts in varsities: AAP teachers' wing

The newly-formed university teachers' wing of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday alleged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) wants to fill academic posts in the universities with its own cadre.

Adviser to AAP's teachers wing professor S.D. Siddiqui said: "They can't win the hearts of teaching faculty. That's why they want to throw ad-hoc teachers out and slowly fill the teaching posts with their own cadre."

Siddiqui also said that the University Grants Commission (UGC) circular regarding the additional working hours for teachers was an "injustice" to the teaching community and thousands of ad-hoc teachers would lose their jobs because of that.

"If the working hours for teachers are increased, then the strength of ad-hoc teachers will be reduced substantially. This is an anti-teacher step and the government has done injustice to the entire fraternity."

"They should fill up thousands of vacant teaching posts in the universities rather than increasing the workload for existing teachers," said Siddiqui, who has twice served as the general secretary of Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA).

He added that the government was trying to destroy the foundation of the university system.

"The academic and executive council are the highest decision-making bodies in the university. But these days the diktats are issued by UGC or Ministry of Human Resource Development regarding university matters," he added.

Meanwhile, AAP Delhi convener Dilip Pandey said that the government was compromising the quality of education by increasing workload of university teachers.

"The government is compromising the quality of education by focusing on cost-cutting. They are doing so because they had substantially reduced the budget in education," Pandey said.

--IANS

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