On December 8, the University of Delhi shared an official notice announcing the formation of a six-member committee tasked with formulating governing policies on the use of social media by university staff. The notification states, “The competent authority of the university has constituted a committee pertaining to the use of social media platforms in respect of the employees of the University.”
The committee members include Sanjeev Singh, Director of Delhi University Computer Centre, Ajay Jaiswal, Principal of the School of Open Learning; Kshitij Kumar Singh from Campus Law Centre; Advocate Manish Manocha; Anup Lather, the Press Relations Officer of DU; and Manisha Choudhary from the Department of History.
In essence, this panel will now monitor social media use by academics. The teachers' associations at Delhi University have protested against the constitution of the monitoring panel, claiming that the institution is deliberately policing their freedom of expression.
What is the story behind the panel?
Speaking to Decode, Sanjaya Bohidar, retired SRCC professor and former Academic Council Member/former DUTA office-bearer said, “From 2019 onwards, various circulars started coming in to promote the government of India's tweets, reducing teachers to government propagandists. University autonomy and academic freedom entail autonomy of ideas and freedom to express opinion. The government bears the responsibility to fund educational institutions but ought not dictate what is taught, researched or critiqued.”
He explained that in recent years, the government has started pulling universities into government activities by issuing directives to them to celebrate and popularise its initiatives like ‘Swachch Bharat’ compromising their responsibility towards critical thinking. “There is a consistent attempt to destroy the essence of a university.”
However, two weeks ago, an Action Plan For 2022-2047 was introduced to the academic council, which was critiqued heavily by teachers for being plagiarised from 6 other international universities.
As the backbone of this social media panel, the intent of the document was clear–to introduce the idea of mobilising resources and funding from private sources, to gear the university into privatising itself.
“The social media panel is an attempt to transform Delhi University’s brand image into that of a corporate seeking a market and securing market funding. Apparently, the Action Plan indicates that the government will gradually cut funds, and DU will have to look at private funding,” Bohidar stated.
But why regulate teachers’ opinions?
What Bohidar claims could be a result of the National Education Policy, the institution is aiming to double the enrollment of students in higher education. So the expectation is that if a university’s funds depend on the market, then it will start behaving like any other private player.
“This document demands teachers present positive stories about the university to bring in more students and build a better brand image. So if the obsession is with DU’s brand image, then obviously there will be an attempt to censor what teachers are saying online,” he added.
Abha Dev Habib, Secretary of Democratic Teachers Front and former Executive Council Member said, “The formation of such a panel is curbing teachers’ rights and is really unbecoming of a university. If teachers are not allowed to critique policies or speak their mind on issues, then it’s a sad country to live in.”
As noted by Habib, a similar development was seen in 2013 when a University Grants Commission's Code of Ethics was used to suppress protests on campuses and making dissent punishable. “Anything that could be seen as instigating would be punishable,” Habib said. The Four Year UG model was later withdrawn by the Government but at the time, it became a massive issue and saw rampant protests from teachers and students which the University tried to suppress.
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Bohidar agrees that this social media regulatory panel could kill the autonomy of teachers who say anything negative about the university's policies and performance, thereby resembling the private sector that forbids employees to go public with the wrongdoings of the company. “There’s a liberal view of university education across many countries, that says that freedom of expression of the academia must not be curtailed. Universities aren’t closed groups or secret societies from which information cannot go out.”
Mithuraaj Dhusiya, Professor at Hansraj College and Delhi University Teachers' Association member took to Facebook, “If DU tries to censor ideas and speeches of its employees on social media platforms, it will be very unfortunate and regressive.”
What do the teachers’ associations plan to do?
A panel member who has requested anonymity said, “The aim is not to regulate. In fact, the expectation is only to nurture responsible use of social media, as can be expected from a university employee.”
According to the Democratic Teachers’ Front, the failure to recognize partly self-inflicted and partly government-imposed missteps is shocking and threatens the teaching-learning experience. “Academic activities are to be guided by industry/businesses leading to commercialization of education tinged with the promotion of immediate political agenda of the Government.”
Habib argued, “Clampdown is only possible if teachers unionise. Right now, those who support the ruling party have not spoken up against any of these measures.”
As an extension to the steps to go private, the teachers’ associations have strongly opposed the attack on free speech and perspectives. They plan to protest the panel’s steps and also go public with any regulation that they are forced to adhere to in the future.
“The document is merely a template for commercialization of universities and surrender of the universities to private businesses on the one hand and to the will of the government on the other,” DTF stated.