While the Arvind Kejriwal-led-Delhi government has been browbeating about its education model, it has now come to light that a prestigious college of Delhi University is forced to work for only 5 days.
As per a report in The Times of India, the Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) college has cut down its operating hours to save electricity and keep costs down. DDU is funded by the Delhi government, which has not released electrical and maintenance grants or funds so far.
To add to the woes, the Delhi government has not even paid the salaries of the teachers for the past 2 months. This has prompted them to participate in protests against the Aam Aadmi Party government.
Given the paucity of funds, the DDU college is now working only 5 days a week. A teacher told The Times of India, “It has been more than two years now that we have been facing this problem.”
“Earlier, the government said once the governing body was constituted with its representatives, the problem of funds would be addressed, but still the same problem is going on,” the teacher added.
Deen Dayal Upadhyay college is not the only Delhi University college left at the mercy of the Delhi government. In fact, a total of 12 DU colleges are directly funded by the Arvind Kejriwal-led-government.
According to The Times of India, Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) has met Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena and sought his urgent intervention to resolve the financial crisis. It lambasted the Delhi government’s Directorate of Higher Education for misleading about the release of grants to the said 12 colleges.
A K Bhagi, DUTA president, lamented, “On Teachers’ Day, teaching and non-teaching staff members have performed their duties diligently without fail, but the Delhi government has failed continuously for the past few years in providing the salaries to these employees and has also failed to build the basic infrastructure for the students in these 12 colleges.”
While colleges under the Delhi government are struggling for funds, last month, it came to light that the Delhi government spent ₹19 crores on advertisements for a scheme named ‘Delhi Higher Education and Skill Development Guarantee Scheme’ in 2020-2021, which benefitted only 2 students.
The AAP government launched the said scheme in 2015. The objective was to provide a loan facility of up to Rs 10 lakh to students in Delhi, studying in the 10th-12th standard, such that they can continue their education up to college.
In the financial year 2021-22, advertisements worth Rs 46,22,685 were given in print media and Rs 18,81,00,618 in television media. In all, Rs 19.27 crore was spent on advertising the scheme, while only two students benefited from the scheme during the financial year.
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