DU's dubious distinction: Only university with 6 undergraduate programmes

Two weeks into the new session at Delhi University, the clouds of confusion surrounding India's premier higher education destination persist with undergraduate students divided into six different programmes and teachers and students equally bewildered at the many rapid changes in format. The latest has been the introduction of the choice based credit system (CBCS), which gives Delhi University the dubious distinction of being the only one in the country to offer undergraduate degrees under six different programmes. This is the third consecutive year that Delhi University has offered a different undergraduate programme to its students.

So, as it stands now, first year students will be under CBCS, second year students are in the semester system and third year students are still bearing the brunt of the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP), which has now been scrapped. Add to this the students who entered college in 2009-10, before the introduction of the semester system when undergraduate examinations were conducted annually, but still need to clear their papers in the original format, the School of Open Learning (SOL) and the non-collegiate courses that continue to teach in the original three-year mode.

This platter of undergraduate courses is not an effort at giving students diverse options but is the result of chaos and experiments carried out by the university and the human resource development ministry year after year.

With 67 affiliated colleges and 3.5 lakh undergraduate students (including the SOL, the non-collegiate courses and all the professional courses being offered) in undergraduate programmes alone, the examination department which has been conducting examination for a new undergraduate pattern each year faces an uphill task. "There will have to be six different types of question papers, different examination schedules and separate examiners and then the declaration of results," said a senior official of the examination department.

With CBCS, he added, the department still did not know which colleges had opted for which paper. With the variation in the teaching pattern, subjects on offer and examination pattern each year, both students and faculty are equally at loss. The new academic session that started last month opened with confusion and lack of clarity for both teachers and students. "We have been admitted in CBSC. But we do not know how to choose courses. Even the teachers were not aware. We have been asked to wait for a few days," said Vaibhavi Sharma, a first year student at Maitreyi College. With each batch studying under a different pattern of education with a different syllabus, each batch is isolated with little in common in terms of syllabus. "We cannot look up to our seniors for any kind of guidance. We are all studying in isolation," added Vaishnavi Vats, a second year student at ARSD college.

Confusion confounded

Before introduction of the semester system in 2009-10, undergraduate examinations were conducted annually. Two years later in 2013, before the first batch of undergraduates under semester mode could pass out, the university introduced FYUP.

The programme, aiming to implement a system similar to US universities, gave students the option of exiting after two years with a diploma degree, after three years with a graduation degree and after four years with an honours degree. FYUP had a controversial end with the BJP government scrapping it soon after it came to power in May 2014. Undergraduate students who were admitted under FYUP were put into a three year re-structured course. Under CBCS, implemented in the current academic session, all central universities now have the same syllabus developed by the University Grants Commission (UGC). The system has been introduced across central universities and allows students to choose papers from the buffet offered by various colleges.

Losing jobs

The hurriedly implemented CBCS could lead to about 1,000 teachers losing their jobs. "The colleges are now aware about the number of students they are going to have for each paper. If students do not opt for a particular paper, the teachers teaching that paper will be left without work and will be shunted out. Ad-hoc and temporary teachers are looking at an uncertain future," said Prof Rajesh Jha, of Rajdhani College. He is also the spokesperson of Academics for Action and Development (AAD), a teachers' body at Delhi University.

Delhi University has about 4,500 ad hoc teachers and many of them have already been shown the door. "I have been teaching in Delhi University for six years. But now I am told that my services are not required because there is not enough workload. CBCS has left me unemployed," said Manisha, who was working as an assistant professor of chemistry with Keshav Mahavidyalaya. About 150 teachers in chemistry department alone have been left without a job.

The AAD continues to demand rolling back of CBCS. Its members along with senior leaders from the Congress including Ajay Maken and Randeep Surjewala have extended support to the anti CBCS movement.