Delhi University (DU) has recently urged the University Grants Commission (UGC) to approve more than 3,000 additional teaching and non-teaching posts across 46 colleges in the university to maintain the student-teacher ratio. The student-teacher ratio has been impacted due to the implementation of the 10 per cent reservation for the Economically Weaker Section category in admissions.
In addition, DU has also requested the Delhi government’s Department of Higher Education to grant hundreds of teaching and non-teaching posts to 12 colleges funded by the government. The DU wrote letters to both the UGC and the Delhi government and included a list of colleges that require additional teaching and non-teaching posts to maintain the desired student-teacher ratio.
The maximum number of additional posts of teachers are requested at Hansraj College (92), followed by Gargi College (91) and Deshbandhu College (80), Dyal Singh College (81), and the University College of Medical Sciences (80).
Furthermore, the Hindu College and the University College of Medical Sciences have requested 75 non-teaching officials each. In the 12 colleges funded by the Delhi government, Acharya Narendra Dev College requires the highest number of teaching (72) and non-teaching (81) staff.
In response to the 10 percent EWS-percent reservation, DU had previously sought information from its colleges on the number of additional teaching and non-teaching staff needed to deal with the increased pressure.
The UGC was requested to consider the additional posts sanction and grant to the colleges of the University of Delhi. The DU also requested grants from both the government and the UGC for the same reason.
University Grants Commission (UGC) is a statutory body set up by the Central government in 1956. It is responsible for the coordination, determination, and maintenance of standards of higher education in India. UGC provides recognition and grants to universities in India based on the quality of their education, research activities and other criteria.
The Department of Higher Education is a department of the government of Delhi. It is responsible for providing grant-in-aid to university colleges, technical institutions, and research projects on scholarship and research. This Department is also engaged in the process of developing strategies to provide higher and technical education facilities to the people of Delhi.
The EWS quota refers to a 10 per cent reservation for economic weaker sections, primarily for those belonging to the lower and middle-income groups. This was made into law in India in 2019. This quota increases the number of seats available for students in educational institutions, but the faculty and staff remian the same, leading to the repercussions felt by DU in terms of student-teacher ratio.
