Delhi University (DU), in an official notification, announced that the permanent faculty of DU can now take additional classes as guest faculty in the varsity or any of its affiliated colleges.
The notification, which dated October 31 read, "It is notified to all concerned that the university has permitted the permanent faculties to take additional classes as guest faculty in the university or its colleges."
The allocation of additional classes should be in addition to the prescribed workload of the permanent faculty, the notification said.
It is further stated that the permanent faculty can be appointed as guest faculty in only one institute or college other than the parent institute to take up to four credit courses in a semester.
A faculty member will be required to obtain a 'No Objection Certificate' and a certificate from the parent institute to become a guest faculty in another institute.
Faculty taking such additional classes would be paid an honorarium of Rs 1,500 per lecture and a maximum of Rs 50,000 per month, said the varsity.
No respite for ad-hoc faculty
While permanent faculty are being given additional responsibilities and compensation, the worries of ad-hoc faculty have not seen any respite. Recently, on September 27, six ad-hoc professors from the Hindi Department were sacked by the Satyawati College. The new teachers recruited in their place were alleged to have inferior qualifications, and DU was accused of recruiting them based on “recommendations” and “networking.
On April 27, Samarveer Singh, an academic working as an ad-hoc assistant professor at DU’s Hindu College died by suicide after losing his seven-year job to an allegedly lesser-qualified candidate – which raised questions and led to protests about the “unfair hiring practices” and alleged “politicisation of education” at DU.
