Teachers of Delhi University gathered at Parliament Street on Tuesday to protest against what they called ‘the complete apathy of the MHRD towards the issues concerning teachers not only of DU but affecting universities across the country’.
Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) is disgruntled with the government’s indifference towards their plight and hence has demanded an ordinance to be passed in the upcoming session of the Parliament. “Teachers are particularly exercised over the failure of the MHRD to implement revised allowances and pensions, consequent to the VII Pay Revision, and disbursal of the required funds for its implementation,” DUTA president Rajib Ray said in a statement.
According to DUTA, thousands of teachers and employees have been denied pension altogether because the MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development) has failed to release funds for those in option and third category and ensnared the rest of them in an endless legal battle through an SLP filed at its insistence.
“The appointment process is at a halt and the regularisation of thousands of ad-hoc teachers is dependent on the withdrawal of the 5 March 2018 UGC letter asking for implementation of department/subject wise reservation roster and the subsequent freeze on appointments,” said the DUTA.
The teachers have also called the recent Tripartite MoU between UGC, MHRD and universities and other new introductions such as replacement of grants by loans through ‘HIgher Education Financing Agency (HEFA)and Graded Autonomy as ‘relentless policy attacks on higher education that will fundamentally change the character, content and reach of public-funded education in the country’.