New Delhi, Oct 26 (PTI) The Delhi University Executive Council will meet on Friday to discuss changes in the screening process for the appointment of assistant professors, a move opposed by teachers" bodies who alleged it to be exclusionary.This will be Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh"s first Executive Council meeting after assuming charge earlier this month.According to the proposed changes, the screening committee will draw up a list of candidates indicating their marks in descending order. The marks will be decided on the weightage accorded to scores of candidates in graduation, postgraduation and in PhD.An applicant securing less than 65 for departments and 55 marks for colleges will not be included in the list of shortlisted candidates. SC and ST candidates will be given a relaxation of five marks."In case of a tie, the candidate having the higher/highest marks at Master"s level shall be ranked above others," according to the agenda of the meeting.For an appointment in university departments, a minimum of 30 candidates for the first vacancy and 10 candidates for every additional vacancy shall be called for interview in order of their ranks in the list prepared by the Screening Committee.The marks awarded to the candidates during screening shall not have any weightage/credit or merit during assessment/interview by the Selection Committee. These marks shall be used only for screening/shortlisting.The time taken by candidates to acquire M.Phil and or PhD degree shall not be considered as teaching or research experience to be claimed for appointment to the teaching positions, according to the proposed changes."Further, the period of active service spent on pursuing research degree simultaneously with teaching assignment without taking any kind of leave shall be counted as teaching experience for direct recruitment/promotion, it said.Expressing their disapproval over the changes, Delhi University Teachers" Association wrote to the vice-chancellor demanding immediate withdrawal of the criterion stating that they will be unjust for ad-hoc and contractual teachers."The Executive Council agenda restricts the number of shortlisted candidates to be called for the interview. This creates both an anomaly and injustice," the teachers" body said.The same small number of candidates will get repeat opportunities to appear in interviews till they are selected, while thousands of other candidates including own incumbent ad hocs will never get a chance to appear for almost any interview, it alleged."This is nothing less than a travesty of justice in a university where interviews have not happened for around a decade and where so many wait for a fair, equitable and just procedure," the Delhi University Teachers" Association wrote said.The Screening Criteria gives poor recognition to teaching experience, the association alleged, adding it devalues teaching experience of many years in ad hoc capacity."The screening criteria awards 25 per cent weightage to PhD degrees: a disproportionate sum that will exclude all candidates without PhDs. This will be particularly discriminatory in disciplines like english, economics, commerce, History and mathematics where PhDs are difficult to attain early in career."The high weightage also does not take into account the disparity in quality of PhDs done at various universities but will privilege candidates from other places over the incumbents in DU," they said.The screening criteria award higher marks to those with scores of 80 per cent and above in PG and UG, which leads to teachers from disciplines like Languages, Humanities and Social Sciences losing scores, the Delhi University Teachers" Association said."High scores like these are also not awarded universally across Indian universities particularly to students who graduated in previous decades (some of who are incumbent/serving ad hoc teachers in DU), causing another layer of problems through the criteria"s homogenizing approach."Such teachers despite their track record in academic as well as professional work will not even be called for the interview," they said.Another teachers" body, Academics for Action and Development, said the December 5 letter of Education Ministry entitles each ad hoc and temporary teacher to be called for interviews.  "Ad hoc and temporary teachers have been taking classes, doing exam-related works, undertaking co-curricular activities for years. Hence, serious questions are being raised about the proposal for taking presentation from them before the interviews," it said. PTI SLB NSD NSD