The Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) has written to the Acting Vice-Chancellor of the varsity, Dr PC Joshi, to ask the government to arrange Rs 2.5 crore as a compensation corpus for "the families of those faculty members who have lost their lives to this pandemic".
DUTA President Dr Rajib Ray said that the association is looking at helping not just the current faculty but also reaching out to retired teachers and staff. "We wanted to work from home and take online classes but the administration did not agree. We are losing people every day. We just lost someone as young as 30 years old," said Dr Ray. "The University should request the Government to provide a compensation of Rs 2.5 crore to the families of those faculty members who have lost their lives to this pandemic," he added.
In the letter addressed to the VC, the DUTA requested him to take immediate steps to help the varsity staff cope with the pandemic's second wave. "The second wave of the pandemic has hit all sections very badly and we have lost a number of teaching and non-teaching staff in the last fifteen days. Students and their families are undergoing a similar crisis. It is feared that the crisis is going to deepen and peak in May," said the statement. The DUTA also demanded "special leave and compensation provisions for teachers working on ad hoc capacity" and "the non-teaching staff working on contract basis".
The teachers' organisation said that paid medical leave for the period of illness for themselves and dependent family members should be urgently made available for ad hoc teachers as well. "The Teachers’ Welfare Fund (TWF) receives funds from examination remuneration of all teachers. We request that the Committee meets online immediately to extend provisions of TWF to ad hoc teachers. Urgent action should be taken to bring relief to families," added the letter.
"Deadlines for the submission of Internal Assessment should be extended and the examinations should be postponed. Students and teachers should not be subjected to this additional stress in these difficult times," the DUTA said. "The University should explore ways of strengthening facilities at the WUS Health Centres and VP Chest Institute. The University should maintain a panel of doctors who can be consulted online and also start a centralised helpline service for those in distress," the letter added.
