An Ode to the ‘Ad-Hoc’ Teachers of Ramjas English Department
Abinash Dash Choudhary | 15 December 2023 | The Wire
Education as the practice of freedom—as opposed to education
as the practice of domination—denies that man is abstract, isolated,
independent, and unattached to the world; it also denies that the
world exists as a reality apart from people.
— Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
The Ramjas English Department, fondly called “RED” – the colour of the institution’s brick walls, the colour of passion, love and vigour – has now been made to lose eight of its ten “ad-hoc” teachers. This development isn’t new for anyone aware of the University of Delhi’s conduct over these past few years, and the precarious lives that “ad-hocism” creates for many qualified, deserving and passionate teachers. Much has been said about how this is a clear violation of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act (CLRA Act), 1970. Appointment rules permit the creation of such “ad-hoc” positions only by conditions necessitated in contingent situations (death, leave, etc.), and not to prolong a state of emergency in the university.
I will leave the legalities to better minds and limit – or perhaps broaden – the discourse to demonstrate who these people are: the ones who are unnamed, the ones who go on labouring under dire situations to bring education to classrooms that are packed, often with more students than there are provisions to sit; ones who make it a pleasure to sit in a class even in the summers of Delhi, in places where sometimes even fans don’t work! They patiently answer questions, engage with the curiosity and agility of youth – all the while living their tumultuous lives which do not allow the luxuries that a student enjoys.
When I went to Ramjas English Department first – only eight years ago – from Bhubaneswar in Orissa, I was greeted by these professors with joy. With their resplendent mirth, they made the unfamiliar familiar. I knew nothing about Delhi, let alone the labour dynamics in the University. I would see the “permanent” professors alongside the “ad-hocs” and never for once understand the difference – both taught us, both required degrees, what separated them? This is, perhaps, for the naive perceptions of a young student the most difficult to distinguish, and I was no exception. Slowly, and gradually, alongside classes on labour, or reading about Ambedkar’s concept of “division of labour….