NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party’s Teachers Wing (AADTA) organized a 12-hour hunger strike to protest against the Delhi University administration on Thursday. The hunger strike was held in protest of the deliberate delay in the formation of Governing Bodies (GBs) in 28 Delhi government colleges and the politicization of recruitment of teachers and principals at Delhi University (DU).
The strike was attended by DU Executive Committee (EC) members, Academic Council (AC), Finance Committee, DUTA Executive Members, former DUTA & FEDCUTA presidents & other office bearers, former EC and AC members, and a large number of teachers. The AADTA has been demanding the absorption of ad-hoc and temporary teachers in DU, which was supported by the former deputy chief minister and education minister Manish Sisodia. The teachers claimed that the devious intentions of the university administration have become evident from what was stated in the EC meeting on February 3 and what is being done in Bharati College.
Dr Aditya Narayan Misra, national in-charge of AADTA, said, “The AAP Teachers Wing will take its struggle further to press for our demands. Of the 12,000 teachers in DU, 6,000 are ad-hoc and temporary teachers. The university administration is indulging in massive displacements and using all designs to subvert the policy of the Delhi government for absorption. Approximately 70-75% of teachers will get displaced because of the university’s current recruitment process. We will not allow the agenda of politicization of GB formation and recruitment to succeed in DU.”
Notably, on January 27, 2023- the then Sisodia wrote to V-C stating the Delhi government policy for absorption of ad-hoc and temporary teachers. On January 28, 2023, the Delhi government sent the list of nominees for GBs to the university. On February 3, 2023, an EC meeting was held, but the list was not brought there for approval. When EC members Seema Das and RS Pawar demanded to place it, the V-C in the chair said that there was some technical problem. On February 15, 2023, the university administration arbitrarily sent three GB nominees to Bharati College violating DU’s Statute 30(1) and EC Resolution 51 (2012).