The past couple of days was iconic in the history of the University of Delhi. For two days, January 8 and 9, almost no classes were held in the university or its affiliated colleges. The DU Teachers' Association called for a complete shutdown of the university, as a protest against the Vice Chancellor and the Government.
The DUTA claims that, on both days, teaching in colleges came to a standstill as DUTA activists moved across colleges to mobilse teachers for a dharna. On Wednesday, thousands of teachers turned up in large numbers at Gate No. 1 to express their collective anger at the failure of the Government and the Vice-Chancellor to resolve their long-standing demands.
A DUTA release issued by President Rajib Ray and Secretary Vivek Chaudhary says, "..the success of the shut-down is a testimony to the fact that teachers are unwilling to tolerate the Government’s single-minded agenda to destroy public funded education. Apart from the push to privatisation and commercialisation, the realization that thousands are languishing without permanent jobs, promotions have become a distant proposition for most teachers and pensioners are facing huge setbacks in the twilight of their life has pushed all sections of teachers of DU on the warpath."
The protestors also raised the issue of the Vice Chancellor not adopting the UGC regulations of 2018 and hence, the promotion of teachers are delayed. They also demanded that the VC immediately call a meeting of the Academic Council and table the recommendations of the committee set up to facilitate the framing of relevant Ordinances in accordance with UGC Regulations.
Ray says that the protest wasn't met with much resistance and the administration is yet to comment on it. "There wasn't much resistance apart from a few lectures here and there and some principals sending letters saying that the colleges are open," he says. Nevertheless, the strike enjoyed support from the DUSU and college staff associations. The organisation is set to decide the future course of action in a meeting that is to be held on Saturday.
