Delhi University has decided to increase the number of students in a lecture by around 50 to 60% per batch File picture
Delhi University has decided to increase the number of students in a lecture by around 50 to 60% per batch, a move that has been opposed by teachers.
The number of students in tutorials too stands to increase three times as per the new plan of the university Delhi University's Executive Council on Thursday passed the resolution in the matter, with two EC members dissenting against it saying the move to increase the student-teacher ratio will impact the quality of education.
The DU has fixed 60 students per batch for lectures, 30 for tutorials, and 25 for practical classes in undergraduate programmes, EC member Seema Das said. Earlier, the number of students in lectures in graduate courses was fixed at 40 and for tutorial and practical classes, it was 8 to 10 and 15 respectively.
For postgraduate courses, the numbers per batch are 50, 25, and 15-20, respectively. The university issued a notification to colleges on November 11 in this regard.
"The Executive Council accorded its approval regarding uniformity in the teacher-student ratio in all the programmes and courses being offered by the university and its colleges, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels vide the notification," Das said.
Several teachers' bodies have opposed the notification calling it "bigger-than-ideal" batch sizes The dissenting members have highlighted that the imposition of the November 11 notification will have adverse consequences on the quality of the learning process in colleges and the university departments.
In the notification, Registrar Vikas Gupta said the university came up with the rule to bring uniformity in teacher-student ratios across all its programmes.
The dissenting members said that the raising of the tutorial group size to 30 students for UG courses and 25 for PG courses "negates" the very idea of small group interaction and denies students the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding and clarify their doubts.