AUS Faculties Protest on Teachers’ Day Against Election Duties, Demand No Deployment of Divyangjan

On the day of Teachers’ Day, Assam University teachers were on the streets protesting against the “Inappropriate Election Duties” assigned to the faculty. Called by the Assam University Teachers’ Association (AUTA), the protest held outside the varsity gate saw wide participation of the faculty. In the run-up to the last Lok Sabha Elections, many teachers were assigned duties and a part of the training process ran up to more than 2 months and even the Divyangjan faculties were not spared. While they had no issues with the duty on the day of the election, the month-long duties seemed inappropriate, as completing the syllabus on time was their first priority as a teacher. With the Panchayat Election on the calendar, the AUTA fears they will be roped in again for this exercise of democracy as well.

On Thursday, the AUTA presented their 5-point demand to the Vice Chancellor of the University while demonstrating outside the gate instead of taking part in the teachers’ day celebrations inside. In their memorandum to the VC, the faculty members mentioned, “We seek justice or the prolonged deployment of teachers as ALMTs and DLMTs during the Lok Sabha Elections. The situation was exacerbated by the additional assignment of roles like FST and SST, responsibilities that were not imposed on faculty members from other universities across the country”.

They further alleged, “the intensity of these duties increased after the Assam University Teachers’ Association (AUTA) filed a writ petition in 2022 in the Guwahati High Court, challenging the extended deployment of faculty for such duties”.

Mentioning the life-threatening situations some teachers faced, the memorandum further read, “Many of our faculty members, who lack training for border security roles, were required to perform these duties under severe conditions, often without adequate support staff. These assignments frequently extended through the night, lasting over eight hours in harsh weather conditions, including heavy rainfall, and were followed by additional duties during the day.”

The list of demands of the AUTA includes:
1. We refuse to succumb to pressures enforcing extended and strenuous election duties that take us away from our primary responsibility- our classrooms.
2. We oppose being assigned duties that are misaligned with our pay grades and professional designations.
3. We should not be assigned duties such as FST and SST, which we are not trained for, and which place us in precarious and unsafe situations.
4. We stand against the deployment of our Divyang colleagues and faculty members over sixty years of age to perform election duties in challenging conditions or locations.
5. Female colleagues who are single parents or have young children should be exempt from such exhaustive election duties.

A spokesperson on behalf of the association said, “We have been subjected to inhuman harassment during the last and several previous elections. We couldn’t do justice to our students. We need to wrap up the syllabus within 6 months but due to these duties, we are unable to do so. 3 to 4 days of duties are okay but how do we justify 2 month long training process. For this reason, our education system is getting hampered day by day”.

Regarding the inhumane treatment towards the Divyangjan (physically disabled) faculties, the AUTA Spokesperson said, “The Election Commission of India guidelines say that Divyangjan can cast their votes from home, our Divyang faculties are forced to duties that they physically can’t take”.

Keeping in mind the welfare of the students and so that the academics of the university students is not hampered they have urged the Election Commission through the VC not to subject them to strenuous election duties above and over their normal duty as a teacher.