'Feeling Betrayed': 8 Ad Hoc Teachers Lose Jobs at DU's Ramjas College

Ad hoc teachers alleged that the ongoing recruitment process was "unfair" and conducted in an "arbitrary" manner.

At least eight out of 10 ad hoc teachers working in the English Department at Delhi University's Ramjas College were allegedly displaced on Monday, 4 December.

In a 4 December dated notification, the college published a list of 11 permanent faculty members who were recruited after an interview. Out of this, only two long-serving ad hoc teachers of the department made it to the list.

"Having worked here for over a decade now, I feel betrayed that this has happened. The eight of us, who have been ousted are all well-deserving, with good qualification and experience. We are being targeted," one of the displaced teachers alleged to The Quint on the condition of anonymity.

The decision comes a week after Delhi University said 3,441 permanent teachers had been appointed at its departments and constituent colleges, The Hindu reported.

Speaking to The Quint, the ad hoc teachers alleged that the ongoing appointment process was "unfair," "arbitrary," and that permanent positions were given to those with "lower qualifications" than the existing teachers.

The Quint reached out to Ramjas College Principal Hardeep Kaur. The story will be updated once we receive a response.

'Politically Motivated Move': Displaced Ad Hoc Teachers

The incident at Ramjas college comes nearly two months after ad hoc professors were displaced at DU's Indraprastha and Satyawati colleges.

Since the hiring of permanent faculty began in 2023, ad hoc professors, many of whom have been teaching for over a decade, found themselves in an uncertain situation.

While the ad hoc teachers at Ramjas were "aware of the trend" of displacement, they were "shocked" to see almost everyone "removed" from their jobs.

"When the recruitment process began, we knew that there will not be 100 percent retention. Because we saw the trends that were going on in DU over the last year. But this is an absolute shocker that all of us would be sacked from our jobs," a displaced ad hoc teacher at Ramjas College said.

A second ad hoc professor, also requesting anonymity, told The Quint that it was unfair for the teachers to be in the position that they were in and added that it was a "politically-motivated move."

"It is obvious that the displacement of teachers is a politically-motivated moved. The idea is to get long-term people out and hire new people that suits their (university's) ideology. There has been tremendous pressure to join a particular party. Those who succumbed to the pressure are the people who retained their jobs. Those who didn't lost their jobs."

a displaced ad hoc teacher

Meanwhile, a senior faculty member in the English department of Ramjas College called the move "non-compassionate“.

“These (displaced teachers) are not very young people. Most of them are easily 40-plus, who have worked in ad hoc capacities for so long, and have families to support. To just throw them out overnight and ask them to fend for themselves. They are human beings after all," the professor told The Quint.

'Recruitment Not Based On Merit'

The displaced teachers are also 'vexed' by people with alleged lower academic qualifications and lesser experience replacing them. They claimed that the recruitment was not done based on merit.

"All eight of us are extremely well-qualified. We have an MPhil or a PhD degree. We have contributed so much to this college. We were the best department, too. When you look at the current recruitment, half of them are not even as qualified and experienced as us. So based on what have they been chosen?" one of the ad hoc teachers said.

The ad hoc teachers The Quint spoke to believed that the displacement will not only affect them, but also the students in the English department.

"It is very demoralising for the students to lose professors with whom they have built certain connections with. People who have come in their place is really not equipped to teach them. That will definitely have a terrible impact on the students," one of the displaced teachers claimed.

"This state of affairs is pathetic and over time, will reflect on the quality of education in DU," another teacher said.