Delhi University teachers to be evaluated by students

By Gyan Varma Jun 1, 2006, 2:54 GMT

New Delhi, June 1 (IANS) Students of Delhi University will soon be evaluating the performance of their teachers as part of academic reform measures being introduced.

According to a notification issued by the vice chancellor earlier this year, the academic reform committee of the university is busy preparing draft guidelines to make the teachers more accountable.

'The teachers evaluation reform is among the top priorities for the committee and we want to make the teachers more accountable towards students,' said Neera Chandhoke, who heads the reform committee and teaches at the political science department.

The teachers will be judged by students on their ability to complete the course on time, number of classes taken and the way they explain important topics and subjects to students.

'We have been working on the project for two months but we will need at least another six months to formulate the draft,' said Chandhoke.

Ragini Nayak, president of the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU), said: 'This is a revolutionary step and would empower the students to stand up for their rights and judge the performance of teachers.

'This was a longstanding demand of the students. Only this year the vice chancellor and other members of the committee agreed to include it,' said Nayak, who is also a member of the reforms committee.

The members of the committee include principals, heads of department, professors and members of the student organisation.

'It is often alleged by teachers that students do not attend classes but, by implementing this reform, we would be able to find out how many teachers do not take classes on a regular basis,' noted Nayak.

'Sometimes teachers do not complete the course and students end up reading from guide books and taking tuitions. According to this reform, a teacher would be judged badly if he has not completed the course.'

The committee has just met six times in the past five months and Nayak fears that teachers and other members of the committee are deliberately delaying the process.

'The committee also needs to formulate checks and balances in the draft, because teachers might try to harm a student if they find out a particular student has judged them badly,' added Nayak.

© 2006 Indo-Asian News Service