Delhi: 400 English teachers in DU write to V-C over ‘loss of workload’

English teachers in the University are alarmed by the UGCF, stating that the Ability Enhancement Courses pool that students can choose among in their first four semesters will have languages included in the eighth schedule of the Constitution, which does not include English. They have stated that this replaces the current system where both English and Hindi/Modern Indian Languages are offered as options to students as AECs.

“The AECC course was assigned 4 lectures — constituting a substantive workload of the English department in every college. The removal of English as an option in AEC will drastically reduce the workload of each English department in DU, thus threatening the livelihood of all ad hoc teachers working in colleges,” reads their letter.

Additionally, they have also pointed out that core English papers offered in two of the first four semesters currently offered have been removed from the UGCF structure of the BA and BCom programme courses, “Moreover, the compulsory English language courses that are offered at three levels, namely, A, B and C, depending on their proficiency level are now being removed from the UGCF — in this reducing the workload of the English department irreparably. In every section of BA and BCom Programme, a minimum of 30 lectures are lost: the loss is multiplied across every section,” reads their letter.

According to Rudrashish Chakraborty, English teacher at Hansraj College and former Academic Council member, there are more than 500 ad hoc

English teachers in DU who make up half of the total strength of English teachers in the University.

Appealing the Vice-Chancellor to intervene to ensure English remains in the AEC pool, and as a Core Language course in the BA and BCom programme courses, they have written that this will “crucially safeguard the livelihoods of hundreds of ad hoc teachers”.