University, college teachers court arrest on Teachers’ day

Hundreds of university and college teachers under the joint banners of Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA), Federation of Central Universities' Teachers' Associations (FEDCUTA) and All India Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisations (AIFUCTO) courted arrest at Jantar-Mantar in Delhi on Tuesday that also happened to be Teacher's Day.

The agitated teachers alleged that NITI Aayog has prepared a road map for privatisation and corporatisation of education, a move that has to be thwarted at any cost. They have persistently been demanding implementation of the Chouhan Committee Report for 7th PRC uniformly and simultaneously across the country in consultation with AIFUCTO and FEDCUTA as soon as possible.

Their other demands include the filling up of all vacant posts on permanent basis, regularisation of service conditions and pay scales of ad-hoc and temporary teachers, pension scheme for all teachers, removal of anomalies of the 6th pay scale, scrapping of API, extension of dates for refresher and orientation courses up to December 31, 2017, and reserve 10 per cent of GDP for education, more power to UGC and AICTE.

Additionally, there is also a demand to do away with the notion of Graded Autonomy for Universities and Colleges. And lastly the need for regular dialogue and discussion with AIFUCTO and FEDCUTA in policy matters related to education.

“The government wants to implement UGC pay scale from back door, ignoring the Prof. Chouhan Committee recommendations and keeping stake holders in the dark. They said that teachers will expose the ulterior motives of the government in not revealing the content of the seventh PRC because it wants to withdraw all financial responsibility from higher education in the names of HEFA (Higher Education Funding Agency) and HEERA (Higher Education Empowerment Regulatory Authority) and graded autonomy,” Prof Arun Kumar, general secretary, AIFUCTO, and Prof Nandita Narain , president, FEDCUTA, said in a joint statement.

Shamsul Islam, who has taught political science at the University of Delhi said: “Promoting Adhocism or temporary appointment of teachers in institutions of higher learning and research bodies is one way of the government to kill critical thinking and destroying the true spirit of higher education. We have seen a massive cut in MPhil and PhD seats in many universities in recent years. While the academic fees are increasing every year, the government has persistently been reducing the funds for higher educational institutions. This is being systematically done to turn the country into a subservient nation as per the RSS’s agenda.”

“Hitler proclaimed that he could control Germany because he first controlled universities. Genuine teachers were sent into exile or executed. Stupid teachers were hired—who were incapable of teaching and inculcating scientific temperament and rational thinking among students. That’s exactly what is happening in our country today,” he said, wondering, “the country that has produced critical thinkers like Charvaka (ancient Hindu atheist, materialist and hedonist who rejected the traditional religious order by challenging the authority of the Vedas as well as the hegemony of the Brahman priests), Buddha, Rabindranath Tagore, Gandhi, Nehru and Premchand has now all of a sudden started producing lynchers.”

Meanwhile, teachers who couldn’t participate in the protest demonstration wore black badges and refrained from attending Teachers' Day celebrations in their respective institutions to express their solidarity with the protesting teachers.

In a seperate incident, around a 1,000 teachers protesting to demand permanent positions in Lucknow were lathichraged by police.