New Delhi: Swachh Bharat, Fit India, Digital India, Digilocker, e-Hospital. E-Pathshala, BHIM and Skill Education under National Policy on Education. No, these are not just a list of initiatives taken by the central government. These are some of the new Value Addition Courses (VACs) of Delhi University, which have been approved by the Executive Council of the University on Thursday.
A part of the University’s four-year undergraduate program (FYUP) launched this year under the National Education Policy 2020 and promoted asincrease in employability’ These courses will be offered to students who can choose a course of their choice each semester, shown a copy of the courses approved by the Executive Council and accessed by ThePrint.
The courses will be started in this academic year.
Each course carries two credits, and colleges can choose as many credits as they want. 24 such subjects, DU professors told ThePrint.
DU professors said the choice of courses would depend on the college’s own infrastructure and resources.
Apart from the above, the 24 papers include subjects like ‘Gandhi and Education’, ‘The Art of Being Happy’, ‘Vedic Maths’, ‘Emotional Intelligence’, ‘Digital Empowerment’, ‘Yoga’, ‘Ethics and Culture’. ‘Panchkosha: Holistic Development of Personality’, ‘Literature. Culture and Cinema’ and ‘Reading Indian Fiction in English’.
DU registrar Vikas Gupta told ThePrint that the focus is “on teaching values to students at an early stage of their careers”.
“Content may be subject to change in the future, as the content is based on examples available now. The content will continue to evolve over time,” he said.
However, the election of the VAC has been criticized. Some university professors told ThePrint that apart from promoting employability, the courses are not designed to educate students with a view to finding employment.
associate professor Mithunraj Dhusia, a member of DU’s academic council, questioned the way the course subjects were decided.
“How were these courses decided? Initially, different departments had given suggestions to the centrally appointed committee for VAC according to their need. The choice of these subjects should have been left to the autonomy of the individual departments.
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What do the courses offer
VAC courses cover various sub-topics. For example, Gandhi and education in the topic ‘Rural Development through Skills and Local Need-Based Education’, ‘Skill Education and Gandhi in NEP 2020’, ‘Gandhi’s Idea ‘Self-reliant education’ and its reflection in contemporary educational policy, featured in a curriculum accessed by ThePrint. The practical elements of the curriculum will require students to adopt a Under the cleanliness mission or skill education.
The Fit India curriculum includes the Modi government’s initiative on Fit India, study of physical activity, health and fitness and indicators of fitness. An essential reading list on the subject includes the government’s ‘Fit India’ website.
Under the curriculum of ‘Vedic Mathematics’, students will be taught addition, subtraction and division using ‘Vedic Mathematics’. The practical component of the paper involves students conducting workshops on ‘Vedic Mathematics’ to help remove the fear of mathematics from the minds of the students.
As per the curriculum, accessed by ThePrint, under ‘Swachh Bharat’, students will learn “the importance of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan”.
Students will also study sanitation coverage in households (2014 vs 2022) and Open Defecation Free (ODF) villages, Essential reading includes reading government literature on the plan.
The course document states that the paper on ‘Constitution and Fundamental Duties’ does not cover Fundamental Rights – instead, the paper aims to teach students “to apply the spirit of fundamental values and duties in everyday national life”.
The course on ‘Fundamental Duties’ will include subtopics such as ‘Reflecting on ancient Indian notions of righteousness and Duty Consciousness’ and ‘Fundamental Duties – Article 51A’ [(a) – (k)] and Legal Status of Fundamental Duties – Judicial Approach’.
Professors’ protest
Professors ThePrint spoke to argued that the curriculum does not add value to a student’s education.
DU professor and former executive council member Rajesh Jha said the courses are promoting government schemes.
“As professors, we would like [it] If our students are taught values that can be integrated into their education, then teaching values just for the sake of it will not cut it,” he told ThePrint.
Dhusia also told ThePrint that values have to be aligned with the discipline of the curriculum.
“These courses don’t do that,” he said. “For example, the paper on Literature, Culture and Cinema does not include cinema in other languages, here the idea of diversity is missing. A student reading this would assume that Hindi cinema is the only cinema, but Tamil, Telugu or Malayalam. What about in cinema?
DU registrar Gupta has denied these allegations.
“These courses teach students value in life,” he told ThePrint. “We will add courses in pos over the duration of the course. There are courses on skill enhancement which are related to employability of the students,” he said.
This copy has been updated to correct the designation of Mithunraj Dhusia.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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