The Hindu : New Delhi News : St. Stephen’s Council stand irks teachers’ front

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 23, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

New Delhi

New Delhi

St. Stephen’s Council stand irks teachers’ front

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: The Democratic Teachers’ Front has expressed concern over the stand taken by the Supreme Council of St. Stephen’s College here to rescind the decisions taken during the period when Valson Thampu was the officiating Principal in his capacity as Officer on Special Duty.

“While the DTF firmly opposed the show-cause notices served by Mr. Thampu on the two teachers of the History Department, it considers various steps initiated during his tenure as far-reaching progressive initiatives re-defining the character of St. Stephen’s College,” said DTF president Sanjaya Kumar Bohidar in a statement.

“The campaign against Mr. Thampu is also inspired by opposition to many of those steps. Those opposed to reservation for the deprived, those seeking to reserve this institution of academic excellence for the children of the political, social and economic elite, those whose religious fundamentalism disallows recognition of Dalits among Christians, and the Hindutva brigade that would not allow Dalits any benefit of reservation found a common ground,” he charged.

According to the DTF, those opposed to reservation in admissions to the college have reasoned that the policy should be scrapped since the number of students admitted under various categories of reservation was inadequate.

“An honest response to such a situation should have sought effective implementation rather than an undoing of the very principle,” Mr. Bohidar pointed out.

The DTF has urged the Supreme Council of the college not to regress on the admission policy on reservation. “Instead it should ensure that the policy is made known to all aspirants well in advance and is effectively implemented. We further urge that the process of admission be made more transparent and that the admission committees be constituted through a transparent set of rules,” he said.

The DTF has said the college “should accept the seniority principle, the rotational principle and democratic decision-making in assigning and carrying out administrative and academic responsibilities and reject the lie that doing so undermines its minority character”.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi

News Update

Stories in this Section