NEW DELHI: Delhi Congress on Sunday appealed to the teaching community to vote for INDIA bloc candidates in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
In a town hall, the Delhi University Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Devender Yadav interacted with teachers from colleges and university departments and made an appeal to bring a pro-education and pro-employee government at the Centre.
The meeting discussed various issues concerning the academic fraternity of colleges and universities and the general situation of higher education.
“Key issues taken for discussion included the dangers of NEP 2020, the delay in the announcement of 8th pay commission, the urgent need for reinstating Old Pension Scheme, the decrease in financial aid to education institutions, the delay in salaries to employees in colleges and universities, the delay in promotions of teachers, the concerns of contractual staff, and the government onslaught on academic freedom. Several teachers placed their views on these issues,” a statement said.
Yadav expressed worries about the direction the government’s education policies are taking, particularly in higher education. “It is important that we, as informed citizens, discuss and advocate for policies that uphold the interests of all stakeholders, especially the economically weak sections and the employees in government-funded higher education institutions,” he said.
“Academic freedom is getting suppressed and funding is gradually deducted and delayed in Centrally funded higher education institutions. While the government disregards Centrally funded institutions on the one hand, the number of private universities are growing in the country. In the last five years alone, nearly 140 private universities have been set up,”he said.