Autonomy protest: Delhi University can be next, say teachers and students

Teachers and students in colleges across the Delhi University (DU) observed a strike against several recent announcements made by the Centre related to higher education, including autonomy to 60 educational institutions. Even as no DU college has made it to the University Grants Commission's (UGC) autonomy list, they fear that the move will "privatise" higher education across the country.

On March 20, Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar announced to grant autonomy to 60 educational institutions, including 52 universities and eight colleges, across the country. Teachers and students in DU, who were slated to go on a five-day strike on the very day, not only aggressively protested the move but also launched an online petition against it.

Claiming that the move will gradually withdraw the public funding of higher education, the DU Teachers Association (DUTA) said that those coming from the marginalised sections will get affected the most."To start a new course or department, the educational institutions will be expected to generate their own funds. It will lead to 'self-financing' and thus make higher education exclusive and unapproachable for several thousands of students," said Rajib Ray, DUTA president.

"We have made a narrow escape from falling in the UGC list because none of the DU colleges had gone through NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) accreditation. But who knows if they announce to grant autonomy to DU colleges as well in the next few months," Ray said. However, several DU colleges, including St Stephens, Lady Shri Ram and Hindu have been demanding autonomy for the last few years.

Students from across the colleges were also seen opposing the autonomy move over the last one week. "The autonomous institutions will reserve 20 per cent of its faculty position for foreign academia, and 20 per cent seats for foreign students, besides charging higher fees. The move will make education a commodity," said Anshika Gupta, a third-year student at Miranda House.

The University has already been at loggerheads with the UGC over 70:30 fund ratio, wherein, the latter has asked the former to generate 30 per cent funds internally to implement the 7th Pay Commission.

WHAT IS AUTONOMY?

After getting a full-autonomy, the educational institutions can set up new departments/ schools/centers and start new programmes without the UGC's approval. They can even collaborate with foreign educational institutions on their own. These institutes will not only be exempted from regular inspections but also be reviewed on self-reporting basis.