DU teachers to continue evaluation boycott, students worried

No evaluation means first and second-year students will not know their results and in 11 days, the academic session of the university will start. Students are worried and questioning whether they will be directly promoted.

Delhi University teachers decided on Friday that the evaluation boycott will continue.

Teachers have been boycotting the evaluation process since May 24, against the University Grants Commission guidelines on their service conditions. The protest now is against the Academic Performance Indicator (API)—the point system which determines their promotion levels. (Saumya Khandelwal/ Hindustan Times)

No evaluation means first and second-year students will not know their results and in 11 days, the academic session of the university will start. Students are worried and questioning whether they will be directly promoted.

“Since the results have still not been declared are we directly going to third year? They are boycotting evaluation. Does that also mean they will also boycott teaching?” asked Ravi, history student of a North campus college.

Like Ravi, there are nearly 1.8 lakh students who are not certain on what will happen once they join college on July 20.

Teachers have been boycotting the evaluation process since May 24, against the University Grants Commission guidelines on their service conditions. The protest now is against the Academic Performance Indicator (API)—the point system which determines their promotion levels.

Teachers had boycotted the admission process, but that was withdrawn on Friday.

University officials said the provision of conditional promotion is not in place.

Read: DU teachers’ protest likely to hit academic calendar

“Earlier, the vice-chancellor had called for the meeting with principals, asking them to convince the teachers. Still the evaluation boycott has not been called off. The issue has become complicated,” said a senior university official.

However, teachers said students can be promoted since in DU colleges the failure rate is generally very low.

This evaluation boycott has also put the future of the students who are passing out, in trouble.

“Teachers said they had evaluated the papers of the third year students and that results are not being declared. I have to submit my marksheet to Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Not being able to submit the result means losing my seat there,” said Shikha a student of Gargi College.

Meanwhile, the Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) has written to the new Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) Prakash Javadekar with their set of demands and concerns against the API.