Amid much chaos and confusion, the classes of Delhi University's School of Open Learning (SOL) kicked off on Sunday after a delay of more than three months, with the students alleging that the university's central library barred access to them.
SOL is a correspondence option offered by the DU. It admits around 1.5 lakh students in undergraduate courses every year and offers BA, BCom, BA (Honours) Political Science, BCom (Honours) and BA (Honours) English, among others. Every year, the classes for these students begin in the last week of September.
DNA had on Wednesday reported that while the semesters for all the regular courses were over and examinations were underway in colleges across the DU, the SOL students were still waiting for their classes to begin. Adding to their woes, they had not even received the study material yet.
The condition was no different on Sunday as the students were still clueless about their syllabi."This is an educational apartheid against us. While the regular students are having their examinations, we are still unaware of our syllabus. Who will take the responsibility of those who fail the examination due to this negligence and delay?" questioned Ravinder Kumar, a second-year BA (prog) student.
"Adding to our woes, we were not allowed to access the central library which has put up a notice on its doors barring entry to SOL students. It, however, functions the whole year for regular university students,"Kumar alleged.
The students also alleged that they were not being provided with an adequate number of classrooms."Even after this delay, we are not being provided with the sufficient number of classrooms. It's impossible for hundreds of students to sit in one or two classrooms at a study centre," Sneha Sharma, a correspondent BCom student said.
Despite several attempts, Executive Director (SOL), H C Pokhriyal did not respond to the questions.
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- The students also alleged that they were not being provided with an adequate number of classrooms.“Even after this delay, we are not being provided with the sufficient number of classrooms,” student Sneha Sharma said.
