Paper Evaluation to be Resumed by DU Teachers

It’s been two months since the teachers of Delhi University boycotted the exam answer sheet evaluation of undergraduate course papers. The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) has decided to end the strike against UGC on Monday, July 18. DUTA is now moving on to a different mode of agitation as some of their demands have been fulfilled.

The DUTA had protested against some of the amendments passed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in the revised norms. On May 24, teachers refused to evaluate the exam papers of undergraduate courses as part of the protest. Final-year students were excluded from the protest when DUTA decided to evaluate the final-year papers on June 16 so that the future plans of students are not interrupted.

Nandita Narain, President, DUTA, said that the teachers will be working for extensive hours to ensure that the exam sheets for first and second-year students are evaluated and the results are declared by the end of August first week. She also said that students have been requested to attend the academic session 2016 that will commence from July 20 irrespective of the results as they will be directly advanced to the next year till the results are out.

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The protest was against the new norms introduced by UGC as an upgradation of the UGC Regulations 2010. The changes notified the DU teaching staff to adapt the redefined ‘direct teaching hours’. The teachers challenged the notification and said that the new norms ask them to increase the working hours. They also argued that this would lead to a cut-down of 4,500 teaching posts.

The protests forced UGC to withdraw their notification and a revised fourth notification was sent on July 11. It implied that the tutorials and practical classes will be included in direct teaching hours as demanded by the teachers.