DU to begin hiring teachers for 4-yr course

Delhi University (DU) is going to start appointing teachers for its four-year undergraduate programme scheduled to begin next year. The process of appointment of teachers will start soon, Vice-Chancellor Dinesh Singh said.

"With the four-year undergraduate programme, teachers' workload will increase substantially. We will require a large number of teachers," Singh said. "As soon as the modalities of the programme are completed, the appointment of teachers will begin."

Members of Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) observed a candle-light vigil outside the V-C office on Friday. According to a DUTA member, around 4,000 posts in DU had been filled on ad-hoc basis.

"As far as academic reform is concerned, teachers have been totally left out

of the decision-making process," Abha Dev Habib, a physics teacher at Miranda House, said.

Dinesh Singh said the framework of the four-year course is being made by the Task Force on Redefining Education. "On the basis of the Task Force report, a proposal will be introduced in the Academic and Executive Councils for their approval," Singh said.

"The aim is to create a programme through which a student can connect to his/her inner voice. This will happen only after an engagement with a broader array of disciplines. Education will be redefined. It will not be restricted to the classroom. Students, through various innovative projects which will also give them credits, will be able to link these disciplines with society."

The course will also give credits for extra-curricular activities and sports. Students will be allowed to leave the course after completing two or three years too. However, they will have to study for four years to get their honours degree.

DU teachers were sceptical about the course. "After the semester system was introduced in the university, a complete freeze had been announced by former V-C Deepak Pental. We do not believe that the four-year undergraduate programme will lead to an increase in teaching appointments," Habib said.

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