Two alternative course structures have been proposed to the colleges in Delhi University in line with the New Education Policy for feedback. The DU academic council had previously approved 196 credits for a four-year honours degree and 148 credits for a three-year honours degree.
However, the credits have now been reduced to 184 and 140 respectively in the first and 164 and 124 respectively in the second alternate course structure. The Executive Council criticized the decision of reducing the credits and stated that the credits were far lower than the ones passed by the two decision-making bodies.
The academic council members stated that the University did not hold any prior discussion with the academic council about the new structure and had directly communicated with the principals.
Earlier, in August, Delhi University has approved the introduction of the Four Year Undergraduate Program with multiple entries and exit points and a bank of credits from the academic year 2022-2023.
The structure will allow students to opt for a three-year course, a four-year honours course or a four-year honours course with research. Discussions and consultations have been taking place and various other aspects of FYUP will be rolled out from next year.
However, several teachers raised concerns over the reduction of workload due to the implementation of the provisions outlined in the proposals. The Democratic Teachers Front and the National Democratic Teachers Front objected to the two proposals as they were different from the proposals that were placed by the AC and EC earlier.
If the two models were implemented, then a large-scale displacement of existing ad-hoc teachers may take place due to a massive workload deduction. The NDTF also stated that if the credits are reduced, then it will lead to the dilution of course content along with the reduction of teaching workload or teaching positions.