Sunday, December 22, 2013

students at Delhi University will evaluate their teachers

In a move with far-reaching consequences, students at Delhi University (DU) will evaluate their teachers from the next semester starting in January. The evaluation will be made a part of the teachers’ files and influence their promotions.
The rating will include points like the quality of teaching, the regularity of teachers and innovative teaching methods.
“The evaluation will be a holistic and formal process and will be done for every teacher teaching every course. It will be carried out twice or thrice in a semester and complete confidentiality of the students will be maintained,” explained DU vice-chancellor Dinesh Singh.
Explaining the rationale behind the system, Singh said he had taken a leaf out of the Delhi University Teachers’ Association’s (DUTA) book. “The DUTA took the feedback of a number of students for the four year undergraduate programme and I think it was a great idea. Involving students and asking them to assess our programmes is good and should be extended to assessing teachers as well,” Singh said.
The university is also in the process of setting up an empowered committee that will explore and assess the student response.
Teacher evaluation is a common process in foreign universities but not well established in India. Some professors at the Jawaharlal Nehru University voluntarily ask students to assess them. A similar idea had done the rounds in DU five years back but had failed to take off at the time.


Ndtf is against teachers’ evaluation by students. There is a difference between seeking a feedback from students on a system than on teaching ability of a individual. There is every chance that individual teacher feed back by students is influenced by other considerations such as cast, region etc. Even in case of feedback of students on a system, it may be important but it can’t be decider as universities are not run on demand and supply model only. NDTF criticizes VC for unilaterally declaring teachers’ evaluation by students when same was discussed in the last AC meeting and dropped, when elected representatives argued against it. However, we caution DTF and DUTA leadership to avoid rhetoric on the issue and meet the challenge in a more responsible manner as it may have long term repercussions on permanent and ad hoc teachers both for promotions and continuation of ad hoc service. The DUTA leadership should hold GBM and keep the promise of united struggle on various issues, which they gave to teachers during election. The arbitrary functioning of DUTA leadership and statements by some elected members close to DUTA leadership may harm the interest of teachers, as such statements are no replacement for official resolution/ statement on behalf of DUTA executive and teachers on such an important issue.


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