Fate of Delhi University students hang in mid-air

The future of Delhi University's Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) has been looking uncertain, with HRD Minister Smriti Irani asking the university to review the system. 

The university has been facing chaos and confusion regarding the FYUP. 

With no clarity, the future of DU students and those applying to the university this year can be best described as hanging in mid-air.

Neither the university nor the HRD ministry has the answer to every student's question: 'What now?'

In fact, the current, first FYUP batch are not sure about their course plan, as well as the provisions and time duration of their course studies.

The FYUP has been a cause for concern ever since its introduction last year. 

Whatever charm the course had on paper faded away gradually in the first year of its implementation, not because it was not worth it, but because of the uncertainty and politics surrounding it. 

To start with, the FYUP has been introduced with a purpose to prepare students for life after college. 

The foundation courses introduced include Literature and Creativity, IT; Business, Entrepreneurship and Management, Governance and Citizenship, History, Culture and Civilisation, Building Mathematical Ability, and Environment and Public Health. 

Whichever angle one looks from, none can deny that the above mentioned courses will only enhance a student's knowledge. 

DU vice-chancellor Dinesh Singh had more or less introduced FYUP despite much opposition from professors and students, especially when the university was not prepared for it.

It is a known fact that the Delhi University's infrastructure is sorely inadequate even for a three-year course. For instance, the university still has around 4,000 vacant teaching positions. 

But then a four-year course would also qualify the graduate immediately for a post-graduate course abroad where undergraduate courses are of four-year duration, and universities insist on four years of college (for students from all countries) before considering a student for a PG admission. 

A little planning on infrastructure and other basic requirements would not have hurt anyone. And, all this opposition to the programme had not happened either. Rolling the programme back is no answer to the problem. 

We should remember - change is difficult and hard to accept but is usually done for the larger good.

© 2014 Nasreen Ghani

Published in Daily Mail and Mail Today
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2658499/WHIPLASH-Fate-Delhi-University-students-hangs-mid-air.html