To protest UGC norms, teachers 'ground' books

NEW DELHI: Delhi University teachers staged a 'kitaab rally' from Ferozeshah Kotla to University Grants Commission office in protest against new UGC norms to ascertain their academic performance on Thursday.
The teachers have been boycotting evaluation of undergraduate exams for a month now. "This was a symbolic protest against the alienation of teachers and destruction of higher education as a result of the policies of the UGC and Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)," said a Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) statement.
It said, "Teachers have been demanding complete roll-back of the PBAS/API (a quantified and bureaucratic method of teachers' assessment) that has resulted in denial of any promotions for the last eight years."
Meanwhile, the protesting teachers who were marching to the UGC office were stopped midway by the police.They turned around and marched to the ITO crossing where they formed a human chain and left their books and publications.
The teachers have been boycotting evaluation of undergraduate examinations since May 24, in protest against amendments to UGC regulations that, they claimed, would lead to huge job-cuts and drastically decrease pupil-teacher ratio in higher education.
The new gazette notification has increased the workload for assistant professors from 16 hours of "direct teaching" per week (including tutorials) to 18 hours, plus another six of tutorials, bringing the total up to 24 hours. Similarly the work hours of associate professors have been increased from 14 to 22 hours.
Terming it an "unethical mode of protest", students had urged the teachers to end the boycott fearing delay in results, following which the faculty members had decided to end the boycott for final year students. DUTA has called for its executive meeting on June 25 to take a call on future action.