DU teachers rejoin college but continue protest, back to strike on April 12 if issues not resolved

Teachers of the University of Delhi put their strike on hold and rejoined colleges from April 1. But their protest will continue. The Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) has also decided to hold two awareness programmes in CM Arvind Kejriwal's and Deputy CM Manish Sisodia's constituency on April 5 and 9 respectively. They have been protesting about the release of funds for the 12 DU colleges which are completely funded by the Delhi government. While the Delhi government released Rs 90 crore on March 12 and an additional Rs 28 crore on March 16, the additional funds have not reached the colleges yet, said Dr Rajib Ray, President of DUTA.

The teachers have a whole roster of protests planned. While the major highlights are the Jansamvad or public awareness at various spots at the constituency of the CM and the Deputy CM on April 5 and 9, they also have a rally to the Ministry of Education planned on April 7. The protest will kick off from Mandi House at 11 am. DUTA will also gherao colleges wherever the Governing Body Meetings are held to adopt Pattern of Assistance. DUTA had earlier alleged that through the Pattern of Assistance document issued by the Directorate of Higher Education, the city government was attempting to "find ways of disaffiliating them from the Delhi University".

Dr Rajib Ray said that there are some colleges where the teachers are yet to receive their March and February salaries because the Rs 90 crore that was released could only pay the pending salaries till January. He said that they will continue the protest not just on the ground but will also write to the authorities. "We will also be writing to the university to ask them to not only reiterate the letter they wrote after a meeting with DUTA but also involve the Executive Council in the process," said Dr Ray. Talking about the plan for the awareness campaigns, he said, "We will be taking up around 15 sites on both days. We are selecting the sites now. We want to talk to people about what has been happening (at DU)," said the DUTA President.