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Time of India
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Muslim A ‘Language', Urdu, Bangla Missing
New Delhi: Delhi University's recently launched undergraduate admission form on its Common Seat Allocation System portal has sparked outrage after glaring errors were discovered in its mother tongue section. Among the most shocking discrepancies was the inclusion of Muslim as a language option—a misclassification that left students, parents and educators baffled. The controversy deepened as some prominent languages, such as Bangla and Urdu, were missing from the list, leaving many applicants in a state of confusion. To make matters worse, terms like Bihari and mochi were listed as languages, which led to questions being raised about the form's accuracy, cultural sensitivity and the competence of those who prepared it. Parents and students struggled to select an appropriate option, unsure of how to proceed in the absence of their actual mother tongue. Sharing her ordeal, an 18-year-old DU aspirant from Kolkata, who was raised in Delhi, expressed her frustration. "I was trying to fill the form, but I can't proceed because Bangla is not listed. I tried multiple times until Friday morning, but the option still wasn't available. I will try again later in the day, and I hope the issue is rectified by then," she said. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch CFD với công nghệ và tốc độ tốt hơn IC Markets Đăng ký Undo In response to the growing backlash, DU officials said it was a "clerical error" and claimed to have rectified the errors later in the day. However, the issue triggered strong reactions from within the university community. Abha Dev Habib, associate professor at Miranda House and general secretary of Democratic Teachers' Front, highlighted the dangerous "communal" implications of the error. "Under mother tongue, the form omits Urdu entirely while listing Muslim as a language. Is it beyond the university's understanding that Muslims speak the same languages as others from their regions? Urdu is officially recognised under Eighth Schedule of Indian Constitution. This must be condemned, accountability fixed and corrections made with an apology," she said. Mithuraaj Dhusiya, an elected member of DU's Executive Council, echoed similar concerns and condemned the lapse. "It is extremely sad and unfortunate that a premier central university like Delhi University is committing such mistakes. These errors must be rectified immediately. The rich diversity and multilingualism of our country need to be acknowledged and respected," he said. T he controversy quickly spilled onto various chat groups, where screenshots of the form went viral. Students, teachers and concerned citizens took to various platforms, demanding immediate correction and an official apology from the university administration. Rudrashish Chakraborty, associate professor at Kirori Mal College and an elected member of Delhi University Teachers' Association, also criticised the administration. "This is a brazen attempt to create an 'other' out of the largest minority community in the country and poison the minds of innocent applicants. It is a serious threat to Constitution of India, violating both Eighth Schedule and the inclusive ethos of a central university," he said. Chakraborty further argued that even the terminology used was inappropriate for official documentation. "The term mother tongue is imprecise; native language would be more suitable in administrative contexts," he suggested.
New Indian Express
a day ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
DU admission form triggers outrage for listing 'Muslim' as language category
The DU is yet to issue an official statement. Abha Dev Habib, DTF general secretary, said, 'This is not just a clerical error. It reflects a deep-rooted communal mindset that reduces an entire community to a religious label, stripping away linguistic, cultural and regional identities. Muslim is not a language. Muslims speak the same languages as others in their regions, be it Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, or Urdu.' Dr Mithuraaj Dhusiya, Executive Council member, said, 'It is sad that a premier university like Delhi University is committing such mistakes. These should be rectified immediately. Diversities and multilingualism need to be acknowledged and respected.' Social media platforms were abuzz with screenshots of the form, with students and teachers demanding an immediate correction and apology. Other DU professors said omitting Urdu, the mother tongue of millions, is not just a linguistic oversight but a political statement.
Time of India
11-06-2025
- General
- Time of India
FYUP: DU teachers oppose extra workload for 4th year
New Delhi: 's upcoming fourth year under the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) has run into fresh trouble. A committee tasked with formulating teaching plans has recommended that no additional faculty be hired to handle the increased workload. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Instead, it has directed existing teachers to take on extra teaching hours. "As far as departmental workload is concerned, the faculty should be ready to take extra workload as no extra hands will be given for the upcoming fourth-year course," the committee has said, drawing sharp criticism from teachers who say that the move will overburden them and impact academic quality. The Teaching Programme Committee (TPC), which met on June 10 at Daulat Ram College, also finalised plans for orientation programmes, workload distribution and student mentoring. The 21-member committee decided that an online orientation for fourth-year students will be held on June 12–13 across disciplines. It also directed teachers-in-charge (TICs) to collect mentor-mentee booklets from third-year students, which will now be used to evaluate students for letters of recommendation. The minutes noted that all faculty members must engage in a minimum of five hours of teaching-learning activity per day, totaling 40 hours per week, including supervision of research. While a minimum of 14-16 teaching hours will be assigned per faculty, extra classes may be floated among them. Guest faculty appointments will only be made against vacant sanctioned posts. "This committee has no authority to decide against appointing guest faculty or compel teachers to take on additional workload," said Vikas Dhaka, president of the Daulat Ram College Staff Association. "If there is workload, the principal should request more faculty from the university instead of using an unauthorised committee to pressure teachers. Imposing more classes on already stretched staff will certainly impact the quality of education. " DU professor Abha Dev Habib said: "The UGC regulations, 2018, clearly specify 14-16 teaching hours. Forcing teachers beyond that violates norms and undermines the student-teacher ratio, which is essential for quality education."
Indian Express
05-06-2025
- General
- Indian Express
Three years on, CUET has diminished universities
Written by Abha Dev Habib and Saikat Ghosh A few years ago, summers at Delhi University (DU) would witness a festive clamour of students and parents visiting colleges to check out the infrastructure, meet faculty members, and submit their applications for admission to undergraduate courses. The demand was such that in many popular courses, despite the soaring cut-offs, admissions would close with the first list. How things have changed. Now it takes multiple 'mop-up' rounds to complete admissions and the process goes on months after the start of classes. An RTI response shows that on average, 5,000 seats have remained vacant in every admission year since the introduction of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) in 2022. Admissions to undergraduate courses offered by central universities (CUs) through CUET were first announced in March 2022 while Class XII students were still struggling with Covid. Invoking the National Education Policy 2020, an overnight change in the admission policy was pushed despite educators having forewarned that CUET would downgrade the importance of Class XII board exams while encouraging a mushrooming of the private coaching industry and proxy schools. The CBSE-based CUET also disregarded the importance of state boards and the federal character. Three years since, has CUET meant anything besides 'mop-up' rounds for DU? A few days back, the National Testing Agency (NTA) declared that it would start the CUET-UG 2025 exams from May 13 rather than May 8. Lack of preparedness was reportedly the reason. Delays and ineptitude have consistently been part of the CUET-UG story, throwing teaching-learning processes out of gear. DU's perpetually staggered academic calendar is testimony to this chaos, while the inordinate hold-ups in its UG admissions are the principal reason behind seats remaining vacant. Uncertainties have pushed many students to prefer private universities. Seats in several courses remain vacant despite multiple rounds of admissions including embarrassing 'mop-up' rounds based on Class XII scores. Science streams, which have to compete with medicine, engineering and other technical courses, are the most affected. Even slight delays precipitate anxiety in students and parents and indeed, convince them about the futility of taking admissions if students want to reappear for JEE and NEET. In a knee-jerk response to this issue, the university declared that all courses across colleges would take 20 per cent extra students. While this scheme failed to address the real problem, it resulted in over-admission in some disciplines across certain colleges, thereby skewing the normative student-teacher ratio. Delayed admissions also mean that the university is forced to function with a different academic calendar for the freshly admitted batch of students as classes in other semesters begin even as the admission process is held to ransom by the CUET results. Staggered calendars have increased the stress on the system. Universities are designed to operate well within synchronised teaching-examination calendars for all years of students. A large system like DU shifts gears from teaching to examinations, dedicating its resources to one activity at a time. Staggered calendars result in administrative chaos and cause further delays. When senior batches are appearing for their end-semester exams, the first-year classes are still going on. Teachers are expected to combine teaching with invigilation and evaluation duties. Timetables are disrupted, allotted classrooms are taken up for the conduct of examinations and some colleges even shift their classes online. The results of all batches are delayed as teachers are unable to travel to central evaluation facilities from their respective colleges, where teaching and invigilation take up all their duty hours. Beyond classrooms, co-curricular activities and student societies have been adversely affected as students of various years are in different phases of their studies and are unable to interact much. Caught in examinations for one batch or the other, colleges find it difficult to schedule their cultural fests. Post-CUET, admissions to DU have reported an alarming decline in the regional diversity of students and an even more steep fall in the relative number of female students. Conventionally, DU admissions based on Class XII scores assumed a parity between marks awarded by various state and central boards, thereby enabling students from far-flung states and regions of India to seek admission. A student's journey from a small village to Delhi would start once she scored well. The CBSE-centric CUET insidiously favours only a privileged section of aspirants. Others are expected to spend on private coaching to be on par with students from CBSE schools. Inadequate test centres, frequent paper leaks, lack of evenly laid-out digital infrastructure and the myopic switch to a purely computer-based test have destroyed many dreams of students who are from the hinterland or economically distressed communities. The rising cost of admissions and the attendant uncertainties have also discouraged parents from encouraging girls from remote areas to apply. Admissions to central universities through CUET-UG are a case of over-centralisation. While top private universities continue to run their admissions-related processes and schedules independent of NTA functioning, the hands of public-funded CUs are tied. In the case of DU, which offers close to 79,000 seats out of a total of 1.5 lakh seats available across CUs, this means an adverse impact on admissions and the teaching-examination cycle. For DU colleges and many other, newer central universities that cater to local populations, CUET is an unnecessary barricade that has demotivated students. Paper leaks and delays have put an indelible question mark on the NTA's credibility. It is important to review CUET-UG-based admissions. To restore their national character and a modicum of order in their functioning, CUs need to recover their autonomous practices, including admissions. The normalisation of Class XII board results is a possible solution to the problem of disparate marking across boards. Habib is associate professor, Physics Department, Miranda House and Ghosh is assistant professor, English Department, SGTB Khalsa College
New Indian Express
14-05-2025
- General
- New Indian Express
Infra worries loom over DU colleges ahead of 4-year UG programme launch
NEW DELHI: With just over a month and a half left before Delhi University (DU) launches the fourth year of its Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP), questions are being raised about the university's preparedness. Many colleges still lack updated laboratories, a finalised curriculum and the necessary infrastructure to support the extended programme. What has further alarmed faculty and stakeholders is the absence of FYUP preparedness from the agenda of the Academic Council meeting held on May 10. This raises concerns about the university's planning and priorities. Abha Dev Habib, Secretary of the Delhi Teachers' Front (DTF), said, 'The University has created a situation where most students drop out before reaching the fourth year. Even if they continue, it won't make much sense since the core syllabus has been drastically reduced. The university is overburdening an already struggling system and lowering the quality of education.' She added, 'Preparations for the fourth year were not discussed in the Academic Council meeting, only the syllabus was. Even then, only 60% of colleges have approved the proposed syllabus. Building infrastructure in just one and a half months is impossible. It needs time, permissions, and funds — and there's been no discussion on funding. Yet, they're expecting significant research outcomes. How will that happen?' Another professor highlighted the lack of planning, saying, 'No survey has been done to assess how much space is needed or how resources will be managed. There's no clarity on funding either.'
