This year, St Stephen's college have reserved six seats for admissions for students who are willing to pursue Urdu in modern Indian languages course and also study it as discipline course II or 'minor' from the third semester.
According to a statement issued by Mr Valson Thampu Principal of St Stephen College has said that they have reserved the seats with an aim to ensure that those who join through this quota stay faithful to the subject. He has mentioned that this scheme will also attract the best students who know Urdu. Also, he added that among the subjects, Urdu, Persian, Sanskrit and philosophy have been held in high regard from the beginning.
As per sources, under the newly introduced four-year undergraduate programme, students are required to study 11 compulsory foundation courses, including modern Indian languages. The subject Urdu is taught in very less number of colleges at undergraduate-level. A total of seven colleges under Delhi University, including Zakir Husain (evening and morning), Kirori Mal and Satyawati, offer honours courses in Urdu. In some others, including St Stephen's, it was taught as part of the BA Programme course.
