While Syndicate,the supreme body at Panjab University,approved of the teachers evaluation system,the Panjab University Teachers Association is still opposing it. The Syndicate meeting held on the campus last week had approved a teachers evaluation proposal saying it was a mandatory requirement by the UGC with the new pay scale. It was discussed that since the new pay scales had been implemented,the evaluation part also needed to be approved. The PUTA,meanwhile,opposed the proposal saying they had held a meeting with Dean,University Instructions,where certain changes were planned and it was discussed that,if implemented,the proposal would be implemented only after including the changes. PUTA president Prof Manjit Singh said,We are not against either the evaluation proposal or what the Syndicate has approved. All we want is that the proposal should be implemented according to the changes recommended by the PUTA and approved by both the faculty and students at the varsity. Another proposal of online attendance hangs in fire as varsity officials have been pushed to make it optional. Though many departments have implemented it,the others want it to be optional. Taking this up,the PUTA had approached varsity officials and asked them to make it optional. Giving reasons for non-implementation,they said some teachers did not know how to operate computers. Commenting on the issue,a senior official from the university said,The main reason that teachers did not want to go for this proposal is that there are many who take hardly any classes. As far as students are concerned,they do not want the proposal to be implemented as later,they influence teachers and make them improve their attendance in case it is falling short of the required percentage. The official added the varsity was keen on implementing this proposal and it is because of shortage of computers that they were going soft. Once the adequate number of computers was acquired,it would be mandatory for all to follow the online attendance system.
