With the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) elections a week away, about ten teachers’ organisations who had joined hands to fight against the National Democratic Teachers Front (NDTF) – backed by the BJP, are up in arms on key issues they have been raising.
The DUTA elections are scheduled to be held on September 27. The Democratic Teachers Union alliance had nominated Aditya Narayan Misra as their joint candidate for the position of DUTA president whereas the NDTF had nominated Dr AK Bhagi as their presidential candidate.
The alliance has been formed by ten organisations, including, DTF, AADTA, INTEC, Common Teachers’ Front (CTF), Delhi Teachers’ Initiative (DTI), Independent Teachers’ Front for Social Justice (ITF-SJ), Samajwadi Shikshak Manch (SSM), Voice of DU Ad hocs, AADTA, and several teachers.
As per the senior leaders of the DUTA including Nandita Narain, Abha Dev Habib, the DUTA aims to take on the BJP-backed National Democratic Teachers’ Front (NDTF) believing that the former DUTA leadership had miserably failed in helping the University come out of the crisis. Nandita Narain, President DTF said, “The DTF along with all constituents of DUTA are determined to reclaim DUTA as an epitome of struggle of teachers and will work unitedly to elect Dr Aditya Narayan Misra as the next DUTA President. The DTF appeals to teachers to support and elect the DTF Executive panel to the DUTA to ensure a team which shall help in reviving and energising DUTA.”
Calling the NDTF as a mute spectator, the newly formed Democratic Union Teachers’ Alliance has put forth issues where the NDTF failed. “We are here to safeguard the dignity and security of all teachers. We are here to defend full public funding and build public opinion against privatisation and other sinister designs of NEP, 2020,” a statement by the DUTA read.
“We are committed towards the absorption of all existing ad hoc teachers and the reinstatement of those displaced during the last two years,” it said. It also said that the NDTF-led DUTA was silent in the face of the displacement of hundreds of ad hoc teachers.
