New Delhi: University of Delhi, also known as Delhi University (DU), English Department, had an intense debate on semester system between the Post Graduate Committee of Courses (Honours) and the Under Graduate Committee for BA (Programme).
As per sources, recently, in a General Body meeting held on March 16, 2011 the Post Graduate Committee of Courses (Honours) of English department of DU rejected the semester system. The rejection was made by a large majority where out of 175 teachers only 12 gave their approval for the change. While, on the other side, the Under Graduate Committee for BA (Bachelor of Arts) willingly accepted the semester system on the Saturday. Therefore, it seems quite viable that these two courses are set to go in different directions. Moreover, during the meeting on Saturday, 11 out of 16 members of honours course rejected the semesterisation, whereas nine out of ten members of BA (programme) agreed and passed the decision.
Moreover, there were a lot of solemn academic arguments made against the semesterisation to which there was not any adequate response made by the university. The honours committee said that it would be absolutely unviable to introduce the semester system in undergraduate BA English (Honours). Though, the committee for the BA Programme course accepted the semesterization but only on one condition. The condition would be that the university administration has to form several sub committees for the revision of the semester syllabus.
Furthermore, the members of the committee for honours course passed a resolution during the meeting urging the university to initiate various procedures of discussions with the undergraduate teachers. These important discussions must lead to the agreement on the educational and scholastic aspects of the proposal. Meanwhile, the University authorities quoted that the decision would be a bit counter constructive for honours students of the English department. After the meeting, the pro-vice-chancellor of Delhi University, Vivek Suneja said that it is very unfortunate that honour’s students would not be able to follow the benefits of the semester system. However, the students of BA (Programme) will have the advantage of studying in a forward looking system, he added.
In addition, sources have informed that the members of the honours course committee also passed a declaration during the meeting. The decree was issued against the instruction of the registrar, which demanded the names of the people who voted for or against the semester decision. Indicating registrar’s order undemocratic, the declaration stated that the committee feels that new practice hampers free discussion and decision making on critical academic matters.
