Autonomy row: Delhi University teachers threaten to boycott evaluation of examination papers

Amid protests over the Centre's autonomy move, teachers in the Delhi University (DU) have threatened to boycott evaluation of examination papers scheduled to be checked from Wednesday. The announcement was made ahead of the visit of the UGC officials at St Stephen's College after it's governing body had in-principle agreed to apply for autonomy.

Expressing concerns over the visit of UGC committee members, the Delhi University Teachers'Association (DUTA) announced to hold a protest outside the college on Thursday. "The move to forcibly convert established DU colleges into autonomous institutions is an agenda to commercialise them," said DUTA president Rajib Ray.

Earlier, 42 out of 58 permanent teachers of St Stephen's wrote to the UGC and the HRD Ministry, protesting against the college's decision to apply for autonomy. They alleged that the faculty members were not consulted and the decision was "abruptly" taken by the college's governing body during an emergent meeting in February, last year.

The UGC had invited principals of as many as 30 DU colleges for a workshop to clear their doubts about the autonomy move. Principals of many sought-after colleges, including Hindu, Sri Ram College of Commerce, Daulat Ram, Kamala Nehru, Kalindi, Gargi and Shivaji, among others took part in the workshop.

Fearing that the move will open the doors of "commercialisation" and "privatisation" in DU, officials said that it will ultimately deprive the students from marginalised sections of society from affordable education. "The move ultimately will commercialise the education at a university which is being run on tax payer's money to provide equal opportunities to all students," said Rajesh Jha, member of DU's Executive Council (EC), the university's highest statutory body.

The scheme offers academic and operative freedom to the colleges. It enables a college to design and structure its own courses of study and syllabi to suit local needs and to devise innovative methods of teaching, examination and evaluation. Any number of colleges under a university, fulfilling set criteria, can apply for UGC autonomy under this scheme. The MHRD had granted autonomy to 60 educational institutions in March.

HOW THE SCHEME WORKS

The scheme offers academic and operative freedom to the colleges. It enables a college to design and structure its own courses of study and syllabi to suit local needs and to devise innovative methods of teaching, examination and evaluation. Any number of colleges under a university, fulfilling set criteria, can apply for UGC autonomy under this scheme.