Delhi University has passed the Undergraduate Curriculum Framework (UGCF) prepared in accordance with the National Education Policy (NEP) for its 2022-23 academic session, even though some academic council members disagreed. The UGCF was passed in the Academic Council (AC) meeting of the university on Wednesday.
Eleven members gave a dissenting note against the framework, stating that UGCF 2022 should be sent to all statutory bodies such as courses committees, staff councils and faculties for discussion before it is taken to the academic council. The UGCF will come up for discussion in the Executive Council meeting on February 11.
Read|Union Budget 2022: What edtech startups expect
DU has approved the implementation of NEP and Four Year Undergraduate Program (FYUP) from 2022-23. The dissenting note said that the university gave stakeholders only 10 days to respond to a restructuring that would change the landscape of UG education and have major consequences for students and teachers.
“No steps were taken to seek feedback from statutory bodies like Course Committee, Faculty and Staff Council and other democratic fora like Departmental Council. The collected feedback is not shared with the members of the Academic Council. “While it may be true that the University has received an overwhelming response, it is important to examine the response to the concerns of the stakeholders. It would be fatal to turn a blind eye to the concerns raised.”
Listing other issues, the note said that the academic council was also not secretive to the deliberations of the NEP cell and the standing committee, denying academics the right to consider the agenda before it was brought to the AC. went. Noting that the fixation of academic year 2022-23 as the year of implementation of NEP 2020 is “baseless”, he said the scheme is “so flawed” that in a year’s time, it is the fourth model of the four-year undergraduate programme. Is. has been placed for discussion by the University.
He said the UGCF does not follow the framework laid down by the draft National Higher Education Qualifications Framework (NHEQF), on which the UGC is seeking feedback. The note advised the University to compile the concerns raised in the statutory bodies on the NEP recommendations including the UGCF and send them to the UGC as a response to the NHEQF.
“The current batch of Class 12 students had enough volatility in terms of critical years to be affected by the pandemic. It would not be fair to force the hasty exercises of CUCET and FYUP on them. Delhi University should be spared from these experiments for once,” notes. Reiterating that the implementation of NEP 2020 will drastically reduce the current workload, he said that in the proposed UGCF, a student earning an Honors degree with 20 D.Sc. (Discipline Specific Core Papers) i.e. with 80 credits out of a total of 176.
“DSC will constitute only 45.4 per cent of the total credit. In the name of ‘choice’ and multidisciplinary, this is a major dilution of Honors courses and an attack on the right and duty of the University to create a credible framework that provides a rounded and strong education. This will lead to massive job losses,” he claimed. The UGCF also states that students who drop out at the end of the first year after successfully completing the academic requirements will be awarded UG certificates and at the end of the second. The exiters will be awarded with year UG Diploma.
“The relevance of such awards on the job prospects of a student is not clear. The idea of a single structure for multiple certifications is so flawed that such a meaningful FYUP is not possible. The much hyped certificates and diplomas are only paper degrees,” the note said. It also raised the fact that FYUP would burden parents and students with another year of education and the Multiple Entry and Exit Scheme (MEES) drop. Will institutionalize -out.
Read|Schools will have a new curriculum structure by the end of 2022
“This will affect women students as well as others from marginalized and disadvantaged sections. Lakhs of students complete their degree in three years before entering the job market. The way things are, with FYUP the market will also treat and devalue a three-year graduate student as a drop-out.” The UGCF reduces the weightage in terms of the number of hours and, therefore, credits, devoted to Discipline Specific Core (DSC), Discipline Specific Electives (DSE) and Generic Electives (GE) from 6 (as per current 3 year LOCF or other models of FYUP) to 4.
The university had introduced FYUP in 2013 and withdrew it in 2014 after huge protests. “Students had rejected FYUP mainly because of the extra expenditure of the fourth year. A survey conducted among students in 2013 revealed that students were spending close to 1.5 – 2 lakhs per year living in Delhi to get education. The students also rejected FYUP because of the severe dilution of the first two years of the syllabus. The new model falls into the same trap by offering unimportant courses in the first two semesters.
read all breaking news, today’s fresh news And coronavirus news Here.
,