Teacher strike off partially, FYUP scripts to be checked

NEW DELHI: In response to the UGC’s rollback of the revised workload norms for teachers, Delhi University Teachers’ Association “partially” called off the evaluation boycott on Wednesday. In a decision that will bring relief to thousands of final year students, DU teachers will check answer scripts of the Four Year Undergraduate Programme batch. However, the boycott of evaluation remains for first and second year students and also of the admission process and staff council committees. Colleges take all decisions and action through such committees and several, including ones on extracurricular activities and sports, are involved in the admission process. The process itself is managed through admission committees at the college level and these decide cutoffs.
The association will meet again on June 20. Teachers are now demanding that the academic performance index (API) scheme be rolled back and the original system, the merit promotion scheme (MPS) 2000, be restored. “MPS was a descriptive method. API is through points. Every activity has been quantified and in a manner that makes promotion itself difficult,” said a teacher.
“API was passed by DU in 2013 but with restrospective effect from December 31, 2008. This means teachers are expected to go back in time and earn points they never knew about,” said DUTA president Nandita Narain. “There hasn’t been a single promotion in DU since 2008. The quality of research has declined and the number of citations dropped as everyone is constantly point-hunting.”
Sources said teachers who had not been promoted for many years were against calling the evaluation boycott off even for third year students.