Joint protest by DU teachers, students tomorrow

Teachers, students and the non- teaching staff of Delhi University will come together for a joint protest tomorrow to highlight their disapproval with the way the "anti-democratic" ways in which the institution was being administered.

The joint protest comes even as some students launched a petition campaign to draw the Vice Chancellor's attention to their views and concerns about the varsity.

The Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) is continuing its relay hunger strike to press for its demands, but students and 'karamcharis' will also join the protest demonstration tomorrow.


A statement at a joint press conference of DUTA, Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) and Delhi University Colleges Karamchari Union (DUCKU) lamented the fact that the Vice Chancellor has chosen to "consistently attack the three organs and suppress protests by deploying authoritarian measures which smack of a fundamental disregard of the sense of collectivity which comprises the university".
The members of the three groups will gather outside the VC's office tomorrow to again press for their demand to be heard and for a dialogue to be started on a number of issues including on the way reforms are being introduced in the varsity.

"His agenda, derived from the government's neoliberal policy initiatives, consists of a complete overhaul of the structure and content of academic programmes leading to commercialisation and commodification of higher education," it said.

The DUTA has been objecting for over a year to a series of reform measures being introduced by the Vice Chancellor, saying they were being done in a "hurried and half-baked" manner which will not auger well for the University.

A group of students, meanwhile, have initiated a signature campaign addressed to Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh, to draw his concerns over a series of issues.

The petition speaks strongly against some reform proposals including asking students to write their names and other details on answer sheets during examination, doing away with re-tests and revaluation and also highlights the problems being faced by students in a semester mode.

"We feel the concept of learning has suffered lately, there is no longer depth in whatever we are studying as the semesterisation has not been done properly. We have highlighted these issues and others in our petition," said Jessica, a second year Mathematics student of St Stephen's college.

"We have already amassed over a thousand signatures and we will participate in the demonstration tomorrow as we believe that we should stand up and come if we are facing problems," she said.

-  business-standard.com