JOIN USKey office bearers of the All India Federation of University and College Teachers Organisations (AIFUCTO), an apex body representing more than six lakh teachers from across the country, have been waiting in vain to meet Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani ever since she took charge last year.
The teachers’ body made several attempts for an appointment with the minister and wrote at least 20 letters to the ministry, including mails to the Minister’s official e-mail ID, requesting her to spare some time to listen to the professional problems of university and college teachers. But the Ministry never entertained their request.
“Every time we send an e-mail requesting an appointment with the minister, an automated reply states our mail has been received and will be forwarded to the department concerned. But, nothing happens thereafter,” AIFUCTO general secretary Ashok Kumar Barman told Deccan Herald. The series of letters that AIFUCTO sent to the Ministry by post, seeking an appointment with Irani remained answered even as lakhs of university and college teachers are beset with many professional issues. “This is the first time that we are not getting even an appointment with the HRD Minister. We never had this problem in the past. Previous HRD ministers, including Kapil Sibal and MM Pallam Raju, met us and listened to our problems whenever we requested for time,” Barman said.
HRD Ministry did not respond even when contacted for its reaction.
Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) president Nandita Narain, who did meet the HRD minister on a few occasions, said there was indeed a problem in getting an appointment with Irani.