Colleges told to recruit guest faculties till permanent appointments are made.
New Delhi: Despite the mandate of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) directives for initiating permanent appointments, a circular issued by the Delhi University (DU) administration on Wednesday has allowed the appointment of guest faculties in its colleges across Delhi.
The circular directs the head of the colleges affiliated to it to appoint guest faculties so that requirements for teaching faculty can be fulfilled, even as it has allowed appointment of guest faculties till permanent appointments are made.
The DU circular issued on 28 August reads: “The University of Delhi has adopted the UGC regulations on the Minimum Qualification for the Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in the Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standard in Higher Education, 2018 with the approval of Academic Council and Executive Council…the colleges are therefore advised to fill up the permanent vacancies at the earliest and till permanent appointments are made, colleges may appoint guest faculty.”
On the promise of anonymity, an ad-hoc teacher of DU told The Sunday Guardian: “Although one may find the DU circular perfectly fine, the hidden intention is clear in the last line of this circular which allows colleges under it to hire ‘guest faculty’ for fulfilling the requirements of teaching staff in DU colleges and that poses threat for both appointments of permanent teachers and ad-hoc teachers.”
“Guest” appointments are made for an existing post for a shorter period of time (say a month or so or even more) in the absence of the person manning the post. When the person manning the post returns, the contract of the guest employee is terminated automatically, while an ad-hoc teacher, on the other hand, is appointed for a vacant post and his/her appointment can be confirmed as permanent on satisfaction of the criteria by the employee.
“In the present scenario, the circular will lead to the appointment of those already having a teaching job at hand, instead of fresh applicants. The circular will give autonomy to the college head to fill the posts by appointing guest faculty from anywhere and that will hamper the scope of ad-hoc teaching staff who have been teaching in a particular college for many years and waiting for permanent appointment,” the same teacher cited above said.
Currently, around 4,500 teaching staff in DU colleges are working as contractual teachers and have little security, despite having to handle great pressure. Even the topmost DU colleges are administered by officiating principals due to the absence of permanent principals for decades.
On the condition of anonymity, another teacher said: “This is an extremely irresponsible step by the university administration and indicates that the DU will never come out of the rampant contractualisation. The DU and colleges under it are facing massive shortage of teaching faculty and half of the current strength is filled by contractual teachers. The Left-Right political strife has prevented the University from achieving its main and core aim—that is to impart better and free learning.”
The process for permanent appointments is yet to see any progress, though the UGC had directed in June this year to complete the process of permanent appointments by October 2019 and give appointment letters by November 2019. The UGC had also directed the higher educational institutions (HEIs) that the collection and consolidation of vacancies, permission from competent authorities to fill them, and their advertisements should be completed in the next 60 days (starting from June 2019), but nothing has happened since then.
The direction, issued by UGC secretary Rajnish Jain, had asked all universities, colleges, and institutions deemed to be universities to follow the guidelines.
“Shortage of quality teaching faculty in HEIs is among the many issues presently confronting the higher education system in the country. This is also affecting the quality of higher education. Therefore, the guidelines should be followed by HEIs to ensure timely filling up of vacant faculty posts with appropriately eligible and competent candidates,” the UGC had said.