New Delhi: Delhi University (DU) has modified the syllabus for BA (Honors) in Political Science, emphasizing more on a reading-based approach. In order to introduce the new syllabus to political science teachers, DU is organizing a three-day workshop. The workshop would impart training on three topics and is being organized at the Institute of Lifelong Learning (ILLL). A K Bakhshi, Director - ILLL, said that since the course is offered in nearly 46 colleges, it is expected that about 100 teachers would participate. The institute will also organize a series of lectures by Mani Shankar Iyer, Neera Chandhok and Rajeev Bhargava.
Achin Vinaik, Dean - Faculty of Social Sciences and Head of Department, Political Science (DU), said that the syllabus has been amended after 15 years and this is the first time reading packages for students are being created. Students would now be required to study according to ‘topics’ and not textbooks. According to him, so far students had been blindly following certain textbooks and market-based guides to understand the subject. Consequently, the responsibility was on the teachers, to fill the gap between what has been learnt and what hasn’t.
Vinaik further mentioned that the earlier system created an uneven approach towards a subject in different colleges. But now, with a single reading list and prescribed topics, students from every college would have a level playing field. He added also that the books suggested in the list were “popular books available in the market or online. As per the sources, while students would still have to appear for 10 papers over the three years, they would now have seven optional topics, instead of five, in the last paper. The department is now considering writing political science books in Hindi as well. Students from Hindi background face difficulty in approaching the subject. Therefore, initiatives are being taken to train teachers to write books in Hindi.
