Kamalakanta Roul

Striking teachers’ tents for regular sit-in in front  of university Vice-Chancellor’s Office

More than five Viceroys served British India from this historic building till the time the Rashtrapati Bhawan and the rest of Lutyen’s Delhi were constructed. The great Indian personalities such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru had walked the corridors of this historic building. This building has a room where the revolutionary freedom fighter Shaheed Bhagat Singh was imprisoned for a day during his trial. Now the building houses Vice-Chancellor’s office of the University of Delhi.

 

Teachers at the University of Delhi are on an indefinite strike for more than a month now. On November 25, 2019 the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) gave a call to the teachers to boycott their examination and evaluation duties. Responding to the call, thousands of teachers stormed the Vice-Chancellor’s office on December 4, 2019 when examinations were taking place in colleges. Since then, more than 4,500 ad hoc teachers of the university are protesting and many of them are camping outside the Vice-Chancellor’s office and staging different modes of protest while braving this century’s longest spell of extreme cold and chilling winter. This article explores the process of DU college teachers’ siege of VC’s office for two days and also traces some emerging trends of DU teachers’ movement. 

Livelihood Questions  

Ad hoc teachers are subject to multiple layers of marginalization in the system of undergraduate education in the University of Delhi. The peculiar service conditions compel them to live under constant uncertainty and insecurity. They are deprived of fair treatment and equal opportunity. Ad hoc teachers do not enjoy benefits pertaining to leave, medical and many others as compared to their permanent colleagues. There is no facility available to them for personal safety or professional development. Women ad hoc teachers have to leave their jobs if they want to get married or go the family way. Ad hoc teachers prefer to lose their lives to illness, rather than losing their jobs over illness.   

They are paid a starting level salary of an assistant professor without any increment and there is no scope for promotion, or salary hike. The time and labor spent on teaching is not considered as work experience during permanent appointments. They are appointed for a period of 120 days at a time.  Some colleges require them to appear for interviews every year and some even require them to appear for interviews every four months. Ad hoc teachers spend a substantial amount for filling in applications for permanent positions in different colleges every year only to do it again after the routine lapse of the advertisement in due course of time. 

Root of the Current Crisis

The current teachers’ unrest began when the university sent out a circular to all its constituent colleges on August 28, 2019 advising them to “fill up the permanent vacancies at the earliest and till permanent appointments are made, colleges may appoint guest faculty, if required, against new vacancies arising first time in academic session 2019-20”. It created an atmosphere of fear over losing jobs and confusion over what exactly “new vacancies” were according to the circular. As a result, several colleges didn’t renew appointments of ad hoc teachers or release their salaries.

A decade ago, the number of ad hoc teachers was estimated at just around 500. Over time, their number has multiplied to the current 4,500, or 40% of the number of university teachers. The reason is the deliberate tactic of the university and college administrations to not appoint regular teachers in place of the retiring one.

Occupying DU’s Vice-Regal Lodge Estate

On Wednesday, December 4, 2019, thousands of college teachers responded to the strike called by DUTA. Teachers started assembling at North Campus’ Arts Faculty around 11 am. It was a very fresh and cold morning with a dry sunny sky. The minimum temperature for the day was 9 degrees Celsius. It was cold but pleasant with bright sunshine.

At Arts Faculty, DUTA office bearers made several rounds of speeches before the gathering and placed certain demands such as withdrawal of August 28, 2019 circular, renewal of services of all ad hoc teachers, immediate release of the salary of ad hoc teachers, promotion for permanent teachers, pension for retired teachers, adoption of Kale Committee Report, counting of past services, and release of EWS expansion posts. The tag line of the protest was: ‘teachers want absorption, promotion and pension’! The most vociferous demand was withdrawal of the August 28 circular.

After an hour-long deliberation and sloganeering, teachers marched towards the Vice-Regal Lodge Estate around noon. More than five Viceroys served British India from this historic building till the time the Rashtrapati Bhawan and the rest of Lutyen’s Delhi were constructed. The great Indian personalities such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru had walked the corridors of this historic building. This building has a room where the revolutionary freedom fighter Shaheed Bhagat Singh was imprisoned for a day during his trial. Now the building houses Vice-Chancellor’s office of the University of Delhi.

On their march to VC’s office teachers found that the entry gate to the university from their protest site on the main road had been locked by university’s security personnel and was cordoned off by Delhi police. Teachers though were in no mood to relent. After a massive round of pushing and pulling the iron rods of the gate number 4 were broken and the mass of teachers streamed towards VC’s office. The iron gate of VC’s office complex was similarly brought down. More than 2000 teachers entered the office complex and spread around the elaborate lawns.  However, the teachers could not meet the V-C as he was not present in the building. Teachers had come with their urgent grievances, but it seemed university administration had no time for them. The absence of VC, or any other university official fueled teachers’ anger. The interior walls of the Vice-Regal lodge now took on the form of a big banner with slogans such as ‘Our Right, Absorption’, ‘VC Resign’ and ‘Abhi Karo, Urgent Karo, Sabko Permanent Karo’.

DUTA leaderships made speeches from the spacious corridors of theVice-Regal Office and teachers shouted slogans which continued till 4pm. In the meantime, more than three hundred young ad hoc teachers stormed the plush Council Hall of the VC office where AC and EC meetings take place. The entire Hall and others adjoining rooms were occupied by teachers. Two things were desperately happening in the Hall: one, teachers were determined to not leave the Council Hall. So, they were reluctant to give up the room at any cost. As the night approached only one person at a time was going to the washroom. On the other hand, the security personnel were consistently trying to get the hall vacated. They were in strict vigilance over the hall and were looking for an opportunity to throw out the protestors. Teachers sang revolutionary songs, and gave continuous slogans to maintain the electrifying energy and tempo. Empty water bottles and spiraled newspapers were used as musical instruments to keep the beat and electrify the environment. Freezing winter night was warmed up with amazing and exciting songs, music and slogans. In another development, Delhi University administration overnight held a meeting with DUTA members and appealed to them to withdraw their agitation. The meeting was inconclusive and had no result as teachers’ demands were not met. Hundreds of young teachers in the Council Hall decided to stay put through the night.

On Thursday, 5th December, 2019, Delhi police made unprecedented security arrangements. Hundreds of well-equipped armed personnel were deployed everywhere in the university campus. Teachers started reaching the protest venue in the morning around 8am. Looking at the swelling number of teachers, security officers rearranged their security deployment in a more organized and coordinated way. Thousands of teachers tried to break the gates and barricades to enter into the VC office again. The moment created a war like situation. Many news channels made live broadcast of the events. The videos of teachers’ injuries were also reported and went viral on social media.  The police personnel didn’t allow any outside services into the VC office. No water bottles, no food packages and no blankets were permitted. There was no scope for entry into or exit from VC office. In the evening, Shaheed Rajguru College Staff Association members somehow convinced security officers and sent some paranthas and water bottles for their own agitating teachers. Bits of these paranthas were distributed and shared among protestors of other colleges and were also given to some security personnel and Delhi police constables. Water was also shared drop by drop among some of the teachers and police personnel. Teachers and security personnel were bearing the brunt of acute food and water scarcity. More than two hundred teachers and approximately fifty security personnel were randomly using toilets and washrooms. Toilets became dry and unhygienic. Sweeping and cleaning services were also stopped. Consequently, these essential places in the imposing colonial era building of the VC office became filthy.

The second day saw a daylong huge protest by teachers outside the Vice-Regal Lodge Estate. In mid night, teachers inside had a candle light march in the VC office complex. The massive protest forced the MHRD to invite DUTA office bearers on Thursday 4pm to have a discussion along with DU VC, Chairman and Secretary of the UGC and senior officers of the MHRD. The MHRD released a circular of their decisions in favor of the ad hoc teachers. The Delhi University after the MHRD meeting appointed a Joint Registrar (Promotion) along with one Deputy Registrar to expedite the process of promotion for permanent teachers. Since the main demand of the DUTA for a roadmap for the absorption of ad-hoc teachers was not met, in an open general body meeting held outside the VC office it was decided to continue with the protest.

Conclusion

The ad-hoc system of teaching in the university has not only created a livelihood question for thousands of highly educated young teachers, but has also become a vital cause for downgrading the reputation of the historic and prestigious University of Delhi and its constituent colleges. Shortage of sufficient permanent faculty is a big problem and it affects the overall academic performance. Most of the top ranking DU colleges are running with half of their total teaching faculty being ad hoc teachers. The issue could no longer be ignored when thousands of ad hoc teachers laid siege to the office of the Vice-Chancellor.

 The MHRD circular might have failed to quell the protests as teachers are demanding absorptions in their current positions but, interestingly, the DUTA protest at VC’s office complex saw a few new trends in the history of teachers’ movement in the university. First, is the feminization of teachers’ movement in DU. The young and ad hoc female teachers came out in large numbers to assert their democratic right to a decent living. They were morally courageous and politically steadfast with regard to leading the protest march. In fact, it was the young female teachers who fought with Delhi police-led security personnel and successfully broke gate no-4. Many young female teachers were passionately shouting slogans, and singing revolutionary songs inside the council hall. Second, the emergence of suo-moto leadership from ad hoc teachers’ community has set a new precedent in the movement. Third, occupying VC’s office is probably another first of its kind of strategic achievement of the movement. Fourth, for the first time DUTA politicized and led the movement for the causes of ad hoc teachers, especially the absorption issue. However, convincing modalities of absorption were not prepared by the DUTA. Fifth, both regular and ad hoc teachers came together into the same boat and reciprocated solidarity for their respective causes and concerns.  


Dr. Kamalakanta Roul teaches Political Science in Kamala Nehru College, University of Delhi.)