Delhi University last week was agog with an act of alleged indiscretion indulged into by the president of the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) Ronak Khatri. It was an act of muscle flexing, which the DUSU leaders have indulged into for several years, at least since 1980s when this columnist was a student of the university.
However, such unfortunate acts were few and far in between. Secondly it was always considered to be a regrettable incident and often ended in the realisation on both the sides that it could have been avoided, with apologies and pardoning part of the package deal. However these are different times.
The polling scenario on the Delhi University campus has completely changed and last year it forced intervention of the High Court leading to the withholding of the poll results for almost four months. I had mentioned in these very columns that there are allegations that the students who did not qualify to contest polls for ‘shortage’ of attendance, were allowed to do so condoning their absence from the classrooms at the behest of the university administration.
Given the lack of proctorial control, it’s no wonder that the sitting DUSU president has not shown any regret for the act, However, there is a point to be looked into his justification for his deplorable aggressive action, which albeit indirectly points to the culture of absenteeism which has seeped into classrooms of various colleges.
What one could make out from the video is that even the Vice Principal of a reputed institution like Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) is not conducting her tutorial classes.
In fact, tutorials are the biggest fraud committed on the public funds, as such classes are only conducted for records and never in the classroom.
However, it helps build the requisite workload for creating teaching positions. But that’s an old story.
The latest trend is that the regular lectures too are more irregularly held. One such instance was also evident in the video where a teacher is seen in vigilante role without his presence required on the spot.
His claims of belonging to a ‘Sangathan’ does more disservice to the ideological body he is affiliated to than spreading influence of the organisation. Today even within this ideological family there is a worry about the ‘falling standards’ of the hoary university.
One recently saw that each of the Minister of Delhi government has joined with a team of young, smart and intelligent public policy professionals who are mostly not from Delhi University. And if there are some, they do not attribute their skills to the knowledge imparted at the university.
However, the current Delhi University administration thinks otherwise and takes to social media to pat its back for any mundane act of no consequence.
It has taken in a big way to marketing its ‘achievement’ through the events it conducts and rankings it holds. But dear sir Vice Chancellor, you must have heard about the saying that beauty lies in beholder’s eyes. In 1878, Irish novelist Margaret Wolff Hungerford first penned this simple phrase in her book ‘Molly Bawn’ and captured an extremelyintricate, profoundly nuanced thought.
It explained that perception of beauty was subjective and open to multiple meanings and a variety of interpretations.
Today Delhi University has fallen from being ‘the choice’ of undergraduate studies to ‘one of the choices’. Before flaunting some fraudulent survey to counter this perception, the university establishment could check on the rise in enrolment in non-technical and non-professional programmes in the self-funded reputed colleges and universities in Bengaluru, Pune, Gujarat, Bhubaneswar and of course Delhi NCR.
The ‘Sangthan’ about which the faculty in the video alluded to and current university administration swears by, preaches service to humanity in the process of nation building as defined by Swami Vivekananda. Service to humanity has been further expounded by Pandit Deen Dayal
Upadhyay in his idea of serving the last man in the queue - Antoday.
The loss of quality in the teaching-learning process at DU is failing the cause of Antoday. The rich can afford quality education elsewhere, where would the poor go?
Those who wear the colour of the ‘Sangathan’ on their sleeves would do well to check if they are serving the cause of Antoday.
Sidharth Mishra
Author and president, Centre for Reforms, Development & Justice