By TCN News,
New Delhi: All India Students' Association (AISA) and LDTF is organizing a public hearing with teachers, educationists, students and parents at Arts Faculty, Delhi University’s North Campus in front of Vice Chancellor’s ‘open house’ where the DU administration has continuously refused to address the anxieties and queries of the students and parents on the ‘four year under-graduation programme (FYUP).
Even the concerns raised by DU academics and public intellectuals have also been arrogantly ignored. Hundreds of admission seeking students, parents, researchers and DU professors actively participated in this hearing which was presided by a panel of eminent scholars such as Dr Tripta Wahi, former teacher at DU; Aditya Nigam, senior political scientist at CSDS; Prof Chaman Lal, JNU; Dr. Uma Gupta, I.P. college etc. The public hearing asserted that Students, Parents and Citizens have a Right to an Informed and Transparent Assessment of the Additional Financial Burden and the Promises of Quality, Flexibility and Greater Employability of the new Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) in DU. Eminent scholars who extended support but could not make it to the programme included Prof. Krishna Kumar, Prof. Nirmalangshu Mukherji, Dr. Nandini Sundar, Dr. Uma Chakravarthy etc.
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Addressing the meeting Sandeep Singh, AISA National President said, “FYUP in DU marks a fundamental structural change - a tectonic shift in the framework of higher education- which will have severe reverberations for the future of students across the country. And yet, it is being invoked without allowing for any structured formal debate in any national forum or UGC and not even within Delhi University itself. Concerns and issues raised by the finest academic minds of the university and the country have been shoddily set aside. The two central claims of the VC about FYUP are of greater 'employability' and 'flexibility'. However, even a cursory look at the proposed structure and course content would raise several chilling questions about the future awaiting the student community.”
Highlighting the disoriented nature of syllabus Dr. Uma Gupta said, “All in all, whether it is Diploma (in what one doesn't know) or a Bachelor (without Hons) or an Hons Bachelor degree, at every stage, majority (60-70%) of the courses will be a wild assortment of unrelated, non-core, often school-level subjects while only 30-40%of the courses will be the Core subject for which students took admission under FYUP! With such a huge gap between the intent (nomenclature) and content, what will be the real worth of the degree itself? It is a systematic erosion of focussed training and knowledge drastically reducing employability.” Naveen Gaur added that such heavy and disproportionate bundle of COMPULSORY non-core courses make the FYUP more rigid rather than ‘flexible’ as claimed by the VC.
During the whole programme parents and students kept on sharing their doubts while seeking clarity on issues like B. Tech. Degree is recognised by what authority? Many students who got relatively less marks in 10+2 were sad and agitated on knowing that in the name of flexibility Delhi University rendered them in sphere of ditch, as there are no BA programme, B. Com programme and B. Sc programme in Delhi University and now they have to compete in choice less system of admission. Asserting earlier enthusiasm of campaign AISA state secretary Sunny Kumar said that till now Delhi University Administration utilized the benefit of misinformation by parrying all questions regarding four year undergraduate programme and avoiding any white paper on authenticity of four year undergraduate programme. He added that but as things are moving forward and information and authenticity about four year undergraduate programme is going into public domain and among students, parents and researchers, the need of intensive movement to expose the facade of this four year undergraduate programme is becoming imperative. He said that our movement will move further even during admission process and we are sure that an organized university community will ensure the rollback of four year undergraduate programme.
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Unlike the present structure of an Honours and a General Programme, under FYUP:
Every student will have to COMPULSORILY enter a Four Year Honours programme but s/he will have the FLEXIBILITY or OPTION to leave at the end of two years with a Diploma, at the end of three with a Bachelor degree (without honours), and at the end of four years with a Bachelor (Hons) degree!
The important questions raised by the concerned parents and students were:
· Two-year Diploma will involve: Only 8 Core Courses, 20 Non-Core Courses! So, the DU Diploma would be a Diploma in... WHICH subject? What is the value of such a non-specialised 'Diploma' in the job market compared to more focussed Diploma from other vocational institutes? Would such a DU Diploma not be seen by employers as a 'drop-out degree'?
· Three Year Bachelor Degree will have Only 14 Main Core Courses and 28 Non-Core Courses, whereas students of other Universities will get a BA (Hons) Degree in three years, with intensive training in their core discipline!
· 4 year Bachelor (Hons) degree will have Only 20 Core Courses out of a total of 50 Courses; whereas the earlier 3 Year Hons Degree Had 75% Core Courses!Therefore, 4 year Hons Degree will mean MORE Time, MORE Money, LESS Knowledge in the Honours subject. Why will such a delayed and diluted Hons. degree make students more employable?
· Further, in the absence of any UGC guideline, how will the FYUP students prove the worth and 'equivalence' of their multiple-level diploma/degree while seeking admission in other universities operating with 10+2+3 scheme? Who will compensate them for this impending crisis?
· In a situation where a common student has to spend annually Rs. 1-1.5 lakh annually to fend for college fees and other living costs of rent, food and transport, 4 year will place an increased financial burden for the additional year. Isn't it obvious then, that FYUP will further discourage students who are already economically and socially disadvantaged (particularly the SC/ST/ OBC/PH/Minorities/Women students) to carry on with the Honours programme and force them to settle for the ‘drop-out’ degrees.