NEW DELHI: With four departments at Delhi University (DU) referring back the revised syllabus by the Academic Council and the process of revision being pushed back, there is lack of clarity among teachers on how they would go about their lectures without any preparation. The teachers said nothing was conveyed to them if they were supposed to continue with the old syllabus or when the new curriculum would be finalized.
Executive Council Member Rajesh Jha said that the new syllabus would not be implemented this year. “I don’t think it can be implemented this year. Only those with no understanding of higher education can enforce it in a hurry.” In the AC meeting on Tuesday, the agenda was initially passed and later, few departments were asked to make further changes, amid the controversy over the inclusion of a story based on the 2003 Gujarat riots and some other contents.
Jha, who teaches Political Science at Rajdhani College, said the delay in the process “is going to affect the students adversely” as there is “uncertainty” about the course. “How will I prepare (for the classes)? How will the publishers work on books? Where will the reading material come from? The quality will be compromised this way,” he said. A lecturer at Daulat Ram College agreed. “There will be a crisis. They should have done it long time back,” she said. According to Academic Council member Rasal Singh, the “objectionable” content in the syllabus should be removed.
“This material has been included to discredit nationalist ideas and the Indian culture by people espousing a particular ideology. It’s an attempt to weaken the foundation of the nation,” he said. Jagdish Chander, HOD, Political Science, at Hindu College, said, “The issue is not that it hasn’t been finalised. It is how the syllabus is being manipulated to suit a particular political ideology.”