Volume6, Issue 6 17th - 23rd October, 2012
On the eve of the University’s midsemester break, first and secondyear undergraduates were treated to a rude shock when the schedule for the upcoming semester exams beginning November 20th was announced. On Thursday, the 27th of September, the date-sheet was released, sending both students and teachers into panic mode. The worst affected were those from the BCom Honours and all B.A. Honours courses, whose exam dates range between November 20th and 30th, with very little preparatory gaps for some papers. The B.A. Programme and BCom Programme courses
It’s another DUTA Strike! After making umpteen appeals to the VC, the Delhi University Teachers’ Association [DUTA] has decided to up the ante. The association sat on an indefinite relay hunger strike from 10 October against the way decisions were being made in the varsity. Twenty-three teachers from Ramjas College, Daulat Ram College, Delhi College of Arts and Commerce and Deen Dyal Upadhyay College and emminent DUTA executive members, DUTA
The Date Sheet Dilemma
have it better, with their exams continuing until the first week and second week of December respectively. The BSc. Honours and Programme courses too have been given adequate time, with their exams also continuing until the first week of December. Evidently, students from the BCom Honours and B.A. Honours were not at all happy with the needlessly cramped date-sheets. Yaashika, a firstyear History Honours student from LSR had this to say, “Even if the syllabus is shorter, it still doesn’t make it acceptable to give us one day before an exam. When we are rushing through
secretary S. D. Siddiqui, former DUTA president Aditya Narayan Misra and Academic Council members A.K. Bhagi and M.R. Chikkara were the prime participants on day one of the strike. “Teachers are increasingly being thrown out of decision making and the VC has shown utter disregard to the teachers’ democratic body,” said DUTA Executive member Abha Dev Habib DUTA is against Vice Chancellor for his contemptuous ignorance of the teacher’s association and destroying the entire academic fabric by announcing new courses and academic programmes
everything and there is barely time to finish the readings, where is the time for revision?”
A teacher from one of the top colleges (who wishes not to be named) adds, “The announcement of the evaluation schedule only increases the stress. We are hurrying through the syllabus right now, and as soon as that ends, we have to worry about conducting the exams, and then correcting the papers. How is that bound not to fatigue us?” She is also doubtful about the feasibility of the new rule of three teachers correcting a paper. through media and running the University as his personal fiefdom. “VC has browbeaten the entire university fraternity to accept his fanciful decisions. The drastic changes in examination and evaluation of answerscripts, yet again announced to the media without any discussion in the Academic Council, may justifiably seem insane to the public at large but they also serve to aptly illustrate his ego and the utterly deluded and directionless nature of his reforms,’ said one of the DUTA members.
Answer script to reveal student’s identity
The Delhi University is apparently witnessing a spate of changes this year. After the proposal of some radical changes to be applicable from next academic session, it has come to light that slight changes have also been brought forth in the examination system and these will be applicable from the forthcoming semester examinations in November. Under the new scheme, the answer scripts of the students will carry their basic detail such as their name, the name of the college and also father’s name. Contrary to this, the scripts at pres-
ent carry only a numeric code thereby keeping the identity of the student secret. The introduction of this new scheme has, however, cropped certain doubts and most students seem to be worried about some sort of bias. While speaking to DUB, Tanvi Aggarwal, a student of Gargi College, said, “While the disclosure of student’s name on the answer script will reduce the scope of administrative discrepancies, the major concern should be that of bias especially on the basis of religion or caste. Besides, certain colleges have certain pre-
PGs- An enigma in North Campus If you happen to roam around North Campus, there are two things you won’t miss seeing: one, a fast-food corner and two, students. They are everywhere, be it Kamla Nagar, Roop Nagar or Aadarsh Nagar. This is not
news since North Campus is all about DU colleges. With these students, comes the question of their accommodation as more than 70% of them are outstation residents. It is here that these ‘fancy’ PGs play their role, and how! The students are provided with a fully air conditioned room, a gym, “all kinds of beauty treatment facilities”, Maggi and cold drinks a phone call away, 24 hours power back up, Wi-Fi, personal bathrooms, any time cab facility and so on! The rates of such PGs range from Rs 14000 to 20000 per month. “In our times a student’s life was considered to be one filled with hardships, where a good result was the fruit of multiple sacrifices that the student made by leaving
On the other hand, the BSc. Students seem content with their date-sheets as they are allowed considerable space for revision. Aheli Lahiri, a Chemistry Honours student from Gargi College remarks, “I think four exams over a span of two weeks is a good bargain. But the
conceived reputation and therefore, teachers might just fall prey to this unintentionally and end up giving marks according to colleges.” Another student Bharat Singhal from Shri Ram College of Commerce said, “The University seems to be in a race to bring changes without even appraising the pros and cons of any idea. All important examinations keep identity of the student undisclosed and there is surely some strong logic behind this. Unfortunately, we students suffer because of some people’s whims and fancies.”
the comfort of his home and by surviving the brutalities of the world outside. And look at the scenario now!” comments a DU teacher. The students, away from home, live in much luxury now, and their parents think nothing of the 20 or so grand they lavish on their kid each month. The worst part is that the quality of all these PGs tops the scale during the first few months, but it’s downhill after that. Reportedly, the Wi-Fi stops working, the food quality deteriorates and the AC does not work half of the time. “We don’t have an alternative to leave the PG and move elsewhere since that would result in us forfeiting the security the landlords take in the beginning (which is rent of two months)” says Ridhima, a paying guest. Most of the PGs are not even
stress levels are still high as the syllabus for this semester is supposed to be extremely hard. So the teachers keep scouting for extra classes anyway.” Apart from concerns regarding spacing and the syllabus, another new rule has received major flak from all quarters. If the common buzz is to be believed, students are now required to write their names as well as the names of their colleges on their answer scripts. This has raised major questions and prompted much furore. Tanya Dua tanyad@dubeat.com Illustration- Preeti Rawat
In spite of the strike classes were not called off and teacher’s taught by taking leave for some time to take their classes. Last time VC ordered principals of colleges to deduct salaries of those teachers who participated in the strike on 28 August. DUTA is also planning a candlelight vigil on Friday night to further their cause.The candle-light vigil is for the 4,000 teachers who have been condemned to continue teaching in ad-hoc capacity despite being eligible. Sakshi Gupta sakshig@dubeat.com
Besides this, the question paper will be framed by a panel of three examiners appointed by the concerned department which will no more have the right to moderate the papers in case of any discrepancy. The university has already issued letters to the departments to make the appropriate appointments for the panel. Moreover, the number of scripts to be evaluated by each teacher has also been brought down. While earlier they had to evaluate 400-600 copies, they will only be required to assess around 200 copies. Vatsal Verma vatsalv@dubeat.com
registered, meaning that they are not legally permitted to carry on a commercial business. The tactics that they use to exploit the comfort-seeking students is deplorable. Just half a decade back the maximum a hostel or a PG charged was Rs 7000. However, a respite from these fraud PGs is DU hostel. The newly opened Undergraduate hostel and the Rajiv Gandhi hostel for girls are not only cheap but far better than these PGs. They are clean, spacious and the food is hygienic and delicious. And all this in around Rs 24000 per year! The admission to the hostel is however on merit basis since they provide accommodation only to 800 girls. Aishwarya Chaurasia aishwaryac@dubeat.com
The Woes of Extra Classes Extra classes, incomplete syllabus and internal tests are haunting every student of DU. With semester exams kicking off from 20th November and a gamut of auspicious festivals approaching, semester students are bearing the brunt of cramped schedules. Sometimes teachers teach so fast, that nothing could be understood. The teachers themselves don’t have a choice as they are so pressed for time. A cut in extra-curricular activities seems to be the only option left for the students. “It’s very disheartening to be the victim of sheer sacrifice of the quality of our studies. It’s a case of only feeding and no absorption. In one of the subjects, Econometrics, the entire annual syllabus now has to be completed in span of 4 months, making it tough for the teachers as well” expressed Poornima Kharbanda, a II Year Economics Hons. Student. University seems to be in a rush to get over with the exams of B.Com (H) and Eco (H), as there exams start from 20th November and ends by 30th November much earlier than last year’s exams. But the students worst hit, it seems, are from the science stream. While the exams for other students start on November 20, the practical exams for science stream students start on November 1, giving sleepless nights to teachers and students alike. Apart from regular classes, about five hours of extra classes per week are held giving no room to indulge in extracurricular activities. “These days are very hectic. Pressure created by the unorganised structure of the semester system gives us no flexibility at all. The extra classes, coachings, busy date sheet plus the huge syllabus has left us in a complete soup” Rishav a second year student spoke his heart out.
Sakshi Gupta sakshig@dubeat.com