DUTA slams MHRD's response, termed it 'evasive and misleading'

NEW DELHI: Rejecting ministry of human resource development's response on the issue of Amendments to the University Grants Commission's Regulations 2010, which were notified through the Gazette on May 10, 2016, the Delhi University Teachers' Association termed it as 'evasive and misleading.'
"There will be no increase in the workload of teachers, after the amendments, in comparison with the workload prescribed earlier," a ministry statement issued on Thursday evening said.
UGC guidelines notified earlier this month had sparked protests by teachers association as they increased teaching work hours by two hours for each category prescribing that an assistant professor teach 18 hours a week instead pf 16 hours, an associate professor's teaching requirement was increased from 14 to 16 hours. With the ministry's intervention today, the direct teaching-learning hours for teachers will once again revert to the older format - Assistant Professors (16 hours) and Associate Professors/Professors (14 hours).
The HRD ministry said in a statement that it has issued a direction to the UGC, under Section 20(1) of the UGC Act, 1956, to undertake amendments in the Regulation- UGC (Minimum Qualifications for appointment of teachers and other academic staff in universities and colleges and measures for the maintenance of standards in higher education) Regulations, 2010.
Teachers were required to allocate 6 additional hours per week, beyond the direct teaching-learning hours, on research. These hours can now be also utilized for tutorials/remedial classes/seminars/administrative responsibilities/ innovation and updating of course contents, the ministry added.
DUTA expressed its dismay at MHRD's response and stated that the ministry discloses the fact that these amendments are based on the recommendations of the Nigavekar Committee. "The Nigavekar Committee's notoriety is widespread in the teaching community as the Committee refused to have any consultation with, or register the concerns of, teachers' bodies like AIFUCTO, FEDCUTA and the DUTA."
Claiming that the MHRD has hastily put a stamp of approval on the Committee's unilateral exercise of modifying the APIs, the teachers' body stated that by excluding tutorials from 'Direct Teaching' hours, the amendments have, in one fell blow, destroyed the only system of small-group interactions between students and teachers. The system of tutorials has been integral to the practice of mentoring and catering to the individual learning needs and challenges of students.
It also stated that science teaching will take a hit due to devaluing of practical and laboratory training.
The teachers into their third day of evaluation boycott alleged that by recommending a lecture-centric teaching load for API targets, the amendments have insidiously provided a basis for a Quantum reduction in Workload, a step which endangers the job-prospects of 50% of the existing faculty in DU
DUTA statement also said that the ministry has deliberately concealed the fact that this Notification was accompanied by the UGC's express instructions to college principals that the second tranche of teaching posts sanctioned under the OBC expansion scheme were being withheld indefinitely. The DUTA sees this underhand move as further indication of the MHRD's intention to downsize faculty without any regard to the quality of education.