NEW DELHI: Thousands of women ad-hoc teachers of Delhi University (DU) are allegedly being denied “basic maternity leave” and the University Grants Commission (UGC) and DU administration do not seem to have taken any steps to address their woes. Even the incumbent Ministry of Human Resource Development under Prakash Javadekar has not been of much help.
The sufferings of DU’s ad-hoc teachers are endless, but when it comes to the women faculty, the situation is worse, as almost 2,500-3,000 women teachers are allegedly not being given the basic maternity leave.
At present, over 4,500 teachers are working as ad-hoc faculty in different colleges of DU and more than half of them are women. In the absence of permanent teaching faculty, these ad-hoc teachers work as the backbone of the DU, but most of the ad-hoc women teachers are still struggling to get their basic rights. Since the colleges are entitled to keep an ad hoc teacher for a maximum of four months, the contract to that effect almost always gets extended, but the ad-hoc teachers don’t get the same facilities available to the permanent faculty. Ad-hoc employees are granted only three-four casual leaves during their stay.
Shivani (name changed), who teaches as an ad-hoc teacher in a DU college, said: “I had to join teaching only three days after my delivery to avoid eviction from the job as women ad-hoc teachers are not entitled to maternity leaves in DU. Due to this provision, thousands of women teachers have been facing a lot of problems.”
However, a committee of 20 members comprising Academic Council (AC) members, Executive Council (EC) members and principals of several colleges was formed a few months ago. Last month, the committee submitted its report and suggested that ad-hoc teachers must be granted paid maternity leave in all DU colleges. However, the DU administration did not pay any heed to the recommendation.
Professors and governing bodies of 28 DU colleges that are funded and governed by the Delhi government, have been forcing the DU administration (V-C, ECs and ACs) to come up with the maternity leave provision for women teachers, but the DU administration does not seem to be keen to address the issue.
Accusing the DU administration of failing to provide maternity leave to women ad hoc teachers in DU, Prabhanjan Jha, governing body chairman of Aditi Mahavidyalaya, said: “The DU administration has not come up with any recourse for the sufferings of women ad-hoc teachers in DU; they are just busy passing the buck.”
“We demand that the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017 that prescribes for maternity leave to all women at work, be applicable also for ad-hoc teachers of DU. We have also passed the maternity leave provision for women ad-hoc teachers in our governing body resolution,” Jha said.
The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017 passed in 2017 extended the quota of maximum maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks. However, ad-hoc women teachers at DU don’t enjoy the benefit.
Rajesh Jha, elected EC member, said: “The leave provision has to be in accordance with the legal structure of the DU and the V-C, as head of the DU administration, is responsible for not introducing the leave provision for women ad-hoc teachers in DU.” Jha added: “We have forwarded the governing body’s resolution of Aditi Mahavidyalaya to the DU V-C and any initiative has to come from his office.” Several ad-hoc women teachers have also blamed the Delhi University Teachers’ Association for not including their cause in its protests. Denying such charges, DUTA president Rajib Ray said: “DUTA has been taking up the cause of thousands of DU ad-hoc teachers. We have been demanding permanent appointment for them. Permanent appointment will resolve problems faced by these ad-hoc teachers.”