The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is aimed at making higher education more utility-based to prepare students for the industry. Source: Facebook
Delhi University has released a draft undergraduate curriculum framework 2022 (UGCF-2022), formulated in accordance with the latest National Education Policy, and sought feedback from stakeholders including students, parents and academicians.
The draft UGCF has been uploaded on the website of the varsity and a link for submitting feedback through a Google form has been provided. Various stakeholders can share their feedback on the draft curriculum framework till January 31, the university said in a statement.
“The Draft UGCF is being circulated among the stakeholders as well as placed on the website of the University (www.du.ac.in) for the purpose of seeking views from all the stakeholders with special reference to students, parents, academicians, recruiters among others, through a Google Form," it said.
The Draft UGCF was criticised by a section of teachers saying that it was not discussed in the Academic Council meeting of the varsity.
Academic Council member Mithuraaj Dhusiya said this is the fourth such template floated by the DU within this last year in order to introduce the NEP with effect from academic year 2022-23. Each draft has varied widely on fundamentals such as course structure, he added.
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is aimed at making higher education more utility-based to prepare students for the industry. To ensure what is being taught translates to applicable skills, multiple changes are to be implemented in higher education in the coming years.
However, the changes suggested in the draft prepared by DU have not gone down well with some teachers. Many of them have pointed out flaws in the new system.
Former Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) treasurer Abha Dev said that research has been made a compulsory component in the new draft prepared by the DU. This, she added, will generate “project shops” and "cut and paste" research at mass level.
"The current batch of class XII students had enough instability in terms of their crucial years getting affected by the pandemic. It will not be fair to force rushed exercises of CUCET (Central Universities Common Entrance Test) and FYUP (Four Year Undergraduate Programme) on them," she said.
Rudrashish Chakraborty, an elected member of DUTA, said the structure needs to be junked along with the NEP.
“The proposed UG programme tries to impose a one-size-fit-all policy on every course offered by the University irrespective of the individual needs and customised requirements of different courses. This is academically not feasible and compromises quality and rigour of various courses," he said.