Teachers’ organisations on Tuesday expressed concern over the University Grants Commission (UGC) advice to varsities to offer courses based on student “demand” and “numbers”.

The Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF) at Delhi University condemned the UGC communication to 45 central universities requesting “rationalisation” of their courses by keeping in mind demand from students.

“The vision of the government should be different from choices students make owing to the pressures of job prospects. This UGC advice will not only see small language and some social science departments closing down across universities and colleges and loss of jobs for teachers and scholars but also truncate growth of research in these areas. It will weaken these subjects at the school level too,” the DTF said in a statement.

At DU, nearly 4,500 teachers work on an ad-hoc basis. The government is asking institutions to offer up to 40 per cent of courses online and such a shift could cause a decline in workload, the DTF said. Any rationalisation of faculty positions will lead to abolition of posts and removal of ad-hoc teachers, it feared.

Academics for Action and Development (AAD), another teachers’ group, wrote to DU Teachers’ Association president A.K. Bhagi, requesting him to take up the matter with the UGC and get the letter withdrawn.

“These are moves to reduce the workload and faculty’s jobs. Now the education ministry, not the Academic Council and Executive Council of the university, will decide the fate and shape of the departments. The dominance of market will take away the social justice concerns from the university system,” the AAD said.