New Delhi: These days teachers at Delhi University are putting extra efforts in order to finish designing syllabus for English courses. As per sources, however, four days prior to the April 21 deadline, preparation of English courses, and the syllabi, is marked by ‘secret’ venue, objecting teachers questioning the illogical way of course preparation, protest letter to the vice chancellor and insisted for a meeting of general body of teachers.
Sources added that the syllabus-drafting committee of the DU English department cancelled its meeting scheduled on March 30, and finally met at a ‘secret’ venue on April 11 in order to keep protesting teachers away. A total of 15 teachers met at the university guesthouse. Besides, around six teachers, part of the committee, refused to join the April 11 meeting after they were told earlier that 30 courses and the entire syllabus have to be prepared in 10 days.
Vinita Chandra of Ramjas College has that a meeting was organized on March 30 by the English department for a selected group comprising of 25 teachers to prepare the courses and the syllabi. She added that a subsequent meeting was held at the DU guesthouse in a confidential mode so that only the selected teachers could be present. Moreover, sources informed that on the same day, the English teachers of Miranda House wrote to Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh, objecting to the university’s unplanned measures.
In a statement issued by Sanam Khanna, an English teacher with Kamala Nehru College has said that when they create the syllabi, they also need to have clarity regarding incremental ability and knowledge that are trying to develop in a student. However, all the university told them the number of papers a student will take in four years. It has not even explained whether it is upto students to choose Discipline 2 or whether colleges will create the combination. She also added that right now they are all working in separation. It is for the first in the history of the university that the syllabi are drafted in such a hasty manner and without any clarity of the structure.
Sources have informed that despite frequent efforts, the head of the DU English department could not be contacted. All colleges affiliated under DU offer English and 46 of these offers the honours course. However, DU has decided to invite just 25 teachers from 13 colleges, including Khalsa (evening), Dyal Singh (evening), Satyawati (evening), Swami Shraddhanand, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Maharaja Agrasen, Shivaji, Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Zakir Husain (evening), Hindu, IP, Rajdhani and Bharti.
