Miranda House, Delhi University. DUTA and the Miranda House Staff Association have raised their voice against the termination of the teachers, who had otherwise been appointed till November of this semester. The Principal of Miranda House claims that she made an administrative lapse in appointing 210 teachers. According to the authorities, the college can only provide the salaries for 160 sanctioned teachers and up to 193 posts that were promised as a part of the second tranche of OBC expansion. However, MHSA and DUTA oppose this and claim that the cap should have been considered prior to the appointment of the new ad hoc teachers. MHSA had even volunteered to raise funds from the permanent staff. College teachers had also been asked to redo their timetables in MH, which had recognised 16 ad hoc teachers as ‘surpluses’. Departments, such as the English Department of Miranda House had refused to make these changes on the grounds of being contrary to the guidelines set by the UGC. Earlier UGC had attempted to change the workload but this decision was withdrawn later. The work load had then slipped back to 16 Hours per week for assistant professors and 14 hours for the associate professors and professors. Nandini Dutta, who teaches Economics at Miranda House said to Times of India, “Our Timetables were drawn up as per the 16-14 hour norms. Now the college is insisting on 15 and 18. None of the documents placed before us to justify this are recent or valid.” According to MHSA and DUTA, the Principal had taken a decision without having consulted the governing body of DU or UGC. They have extended their full support and are demanding that the ad hocs should be reinstated. Thus, MHRD has taken up the matter and demanded an explanation for the same. Meanwhile, a large number of classes and study slots remain untaught and unattended because of the unavailability of teachers post the termination. DUTA and the MHSA will be organising a joint Press Conference addressing the issue at the DUTA office at 1.30 p.m. on September 5, 2016, and invite everyone to attend the conference to extend their support. Featured image credits: dailymail.co.uk Tooba Towfiq [email protected]]]>
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