10K teachers to vote as DUTA goes to poll Wednesday
This year a total of 10 teachers’ associations and individuals from DU have come together to form the Democratic United Teachers’ Alliance (DUTA) with the aim of taking on the BJP-backed front.
Published: 27th September 2023 08:50 AM | Last Updated: 27th September 2023 09:27 AM | A+A A-
Delhi University | PTI
NEW DELHI: Nearly 10,000 teachers are expected to cast their votes in the election for the Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) slated to be held on Wednesday.
The voting will begin at 10 am at the Arts Faculty and will last till 5 pm. Unlike the last DUTA election held in 2019 when different organizations including the National Democratic Teachers’ Front (NDTF), Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF), Academics for Action and Development (AAD) and Adhoc Teachers’ Front were in the fray for the elections, this year a total of 10 teachers’ associations and individuals from DU have come together to form the Democratic United Teachers’ Alliance (DUTA) with an aim to take on the BJP backed National Democratic Teachers’ Front headed by AK Bhagi.
In the 2019 election, Bhagi, a candidate of the RSS-backed NDTF was elected to the post of president of DUTA. The newly-formed Democratic United Teachers’ Alliance (DUTA) recently issued a statement saying that in the last two years, the NDTF leadership had reduced DUTA to a pale shadow of its former self as a struggle-oriented trade union body that had fought to protect all its teachers and had led the All India teachers’ movement for better service conditions, social justice and quality, public-funded education.
They further claimed that instead of fighting to implement the unanimous DUTA General Body Meeting (GBM) resolution of absorption for all ad-hoc teachers, the NDTF-led DUTA remained silent even in the face of massive displacement of hundreds of ad-hoc teachers in several colleges, specifically where the principals belong to the same political persuasion as the DUTA leadership.
Nandita Narain, president of DTF, said, “Its claim that the displaced teachers are being absorbed elsewhere is not substantiated by transparent data regarding every teacher who was displaced and cases where they have been appointed. What is more reprehensible is that instead of taking up the cause of all teachers, the leadership has been selective.”
“The NDTF has not raised its voice against the collapse of structures of governance in the university; in particular, not constituting the Governing Body in 28 Delhi government colleges,” she added. “If elected, our priority issues will be NEP 2020, Old Pension Scheme, absorption of ad-hoc teachers, counting of past services at every stage of promotion etc,” she added.
From the Democratic Alliance is Dr. Aditya Narain Misra, a former president of the Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) & Federation of Central Universities Teachers Association and is contesting for the post of DUTA President for the fourth time. While speaking to the newspaper, he explained his priorities and the failures of the previous DUTA leadership.
