UGC’s surrender to teachers’ demands is cowardly
The UGC has once again condemned itself for sheer ineptitude and lack of foresight in the way it introduced the reforms in the working conditions of teachers and the way, as expected, it has buckled under pressure and renounced substantially its own wisdom and responsibilities. It may have, through this cowardly collapse, bought cheap peace for the time being. But it takes only a moment’s reflection for anyone to see that this is not peace but abject surrender. DUTA was holding the UGC to ransom using ‘evaluation-boycott’ as a deadly tactic of coercion.
Teachers could not possibly have done anything more unethical than using the welfare of students as a weapon against the UGC to expose their own unconscionable professional callousness. The fact that the UGC has chosen to slip out of a tight spot in this manner, speaks volumes about the spinelessness for which the present leadership of this apex body has distinguished itself.
The chairman of the UGC, the whole country knows, was hand-in-glove with Dinesh Singh in imposing the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) on Delhi University. This was done without any second thought, merely to oblige the then ruling dispensation under UPA-2. A mere change of guards in the Ministry made the UGC chief turn turtle, disown all responsibilities and drop his bosom friend Dinesh Singh like a dead rat. It is an absolute shame that the apex educational regulation body in this country is headed by those for whom saving one’s own skin and holding on to chairs are the supreme goals.
Also read: UGC regulations 2016 are welcome, but rot in Indian education runs deep
The last thing a responsible body of any substance will do is to serenade itself in public with reforms and regulations about which it is itself not convinced. “The nation wants to know” whose wisdom the UGC was peddling in this instance. If it was its own, what was the rationale that drove this set of reforms? Has that logic become suddenly irrelevant and out of date?
If the shaping logic has indeed changed overnight, what is the quality of thinking the UGC is capable of? Can the hugely important enterprise of higher education in a nascent society like ours be abandoned to the stewardship of a small coterie of people who do not know their own mind, much less what is good for the country, and reasonable by way of professional standards?
If the proposals were indeed thought-out, and UGC acted out of conviction, it now stands condemned for cowardice. It has, through this most ham-handed, quixotic regulatory, lent legitimacy to the archaic principle, “Might is right”.
The UGC could not possibly have sunk any lower than this in its incapacity to see things in perspective. On the face of it, it acted prematurely. The appropriate occasion for unfurling the proposed eminently rational and urgently needed regulations was not far away. Given the psychology and outlook of teachers and their associations, the only way to implement these reforms was to club them with the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission salaries.
Even now all is not lost, what needs to be done is simple. As and when the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission are implemented for college and university teachers, they should be given the option to stay on under the present salary and terms of service or move on to revised salaries together with revised terms and conditions. Rest assured, not a single teacher will choose to stay out of the enhanced salaries and working conditions. Sadly, salary is all that most teachers care for.
The way promotions are done for teachers at present is a shame. What rules the day are the whims and fancies of the members of the committee. The whole exercise is irresponsibly subjective, where no attempt is made even to look at the track-record of a teacher. Every promotion is automatic. Even teachers who do not perform and whose attitude to work is deplorable are promoted in the first instance. This mockery needs to be addressed forthwith. Laziness and professional dishonesty should not be rewarded. The process of evaluation leading to promotion must be made honest, meaningful and stringent.
Also read: How India can do justice to teachers
The chokehold of DUTA on higher education must end, if we are to make any headway in education. The perpetuation of certain individuals in office is virtually the shaping agenda in all DUTA posturing. The assured and cheapest way to win mass support among teachers is to position the DUTA against all progressive measures that hold out the danger of requiring (a) accountability (b) any additional work and (c) any element of transparency at work. Thanks to DUTA, teachers in Delhi are a law unto themselves. The result is educational lawlessness.
Evaluating examination scripts is basic to the work of teachers. Boycotting this crucial part of their work is a clear case of dereliction of duty. We can understand that in extreme situations, when all other measures have failed, such a measure may be contemplated. But that was not the case with DUTA. Evaluation boycott was virtually the very first, precipitous step.
The approach is not a democratic one of lobbying and securing justice; it is one of feudalistic coercion, threat and blackmail. In the present instance the DUTA had the UGC fairly by the scruff of its neck! The latter collapsed into a heap of cowardice. It let the country down, shamelessly.
This does not augur well for education in this country. Bringing in rudimentary professional discipline and accountability should be deemed the bottom-line of administering education and regulating its quality. This is where the UGC has failed miserably. UGC as it stands now is a liability; and the sooner it is scrapped, the better for the country.