Thousands of DU Teachers March Against Delhi Govt's Policies

On March 15, thousands of teachers and staff from Delhi University marched in Delhi from the office of the University's Vice Chancellor, to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence, protesting against the Delhi Government's refusal to properly provide grants to 12 colleges of the university. Students from the university also expressed their solidarity by joining the march, which was called by Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA).

Last week on Thursday, March 11, the central university was “shutdown” for an indefinite period at the call of the teachers’ association, in protest against several issues including non-payment of salaries to over 2,400 employees. In a significant victory for DUTA, the grants for their salaries were released by the Delhi government on Friday. The Delhi Government released the sanction letter of Rs 82,79,79,507 under salary head and an amount of Rs 9,50,90,500 under other than salaries’ head.

The grants were released to the 12 university colleges which are fully funded by the Delhi Government. They are: Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, Shaheed Rajguru College of Applied Sciences for Women, Aditi Mahavidyalaya, Keshav Mahavidyalaya, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Bhagini Nivedita College, Acharya Narendra Dev College, Maharishi Balmiki College of Education, Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Science, Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education and Sports Science, Maharaja Agrasen College and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College.

However, not all of the demands made by DUTA have been fulfilled. Talking to NewsClick, Abha Dev Habib, treasurer of DUTA, said, "The colleges have not been receiving the grants for salaries and pensions on time for 15-16 months now. The teachers don't receive salaries for months, and when we protest, the Delhi government releases some funds, like they are doing us a favour."

She added that the amount released on Friday is not enough, as some colleges, like Bhagini Nivedita College, still have not received any grants.

While addressing the protest rally, Rajib Ray, president of DUTA, said, "We are free-thinking individuals. If the Delhi Government makes policies that are against us, we will of course raise our voices. We are fighting for our rights here, we are not demanding anything unreasonable. We are fighting to save the education system, and we will win this fight."

Also read: DU: Funds for Salary Released After Teachers ‘Shutdown’ Varsity

Nandita Narain, former president of DUTA told NewsClick, "The Delhi Government pretended to be democratic, but they cannot keep up the pretence any more. Like the Union government, they also want to privatise higher education, make it inaccessible. But what they should remember is that they are not the first government to have tried this. We have never let it happen before, and we will not let it happen now."

Other demands raised by the DUTA are creation of additional posts for expansion of reservation for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and new courses, and revocation of the New Education Policy. Narain said, "The VC also wants the same things as the Delhi Government, which is why he is keeping his mouth shut. He must immediately take steps and bring up the issues highlighted by us."

Bhupinder Chaudhry, a professor at the university, told NewsClick, "Delhi Government wants to take complete control of these 12 colleges and separate them from the university. The grants for these colleges come from the Kejriwal government, but they are governed by the ordinances and policies of Delhi University. Now, the state government is trying to make new ordinances and policies that these colleges will have to follow." 

The march was stopped by police barricades before it could reach the Chief Minister's residence. The protest continued in front of the barricades, with thousands of teachers sloganeering together. Five representatives went to the CM's residence to submit their demands.