DUTA Letter to The HODs: 01.04.2019

Sub: Appeal for immediate suspension of arbitrary and hasty process of UG   curricular revision as per LOCF

Dear Sir/Madam,

The instructions and schedule for curricular revision in the UG courses, circulated by the University of Delhi on 26.03.2019, seeks to put an abrupt end to our best academic practices and insists on an arbitrary exercise that needs to be hastily completed within a very limited time-span of three months. From previous experience, we have learned that such hasty exercises can have academically disastrous results that undermine the collective morale of students and teachers. It is evident that the Learning Outcomes-based Curricular Framework (LOCF) has not been properly understood or discussed, with regard to its long-term ramifications and feasibility, in any statutory body. Hence, it will be unfair to carry out the Revision merely with the aim of mechanical compliance to a diktat, and without soliciting the collective opinion of teachers through subject-wise general body meetings. 

You may be aware that the CBCS, imposed on colleges and departments in a similarly centralised and undemocratic manner, has failed to achieve desirable outcomes due to colleges’ failure to offer all choices to students. Inadequate faculty, shortages in classroom and lab infrastructure and the UGC’s unwillingness to sanction teaching posts (even those promised under the second-tranche of the OBC-Expansion Scheme) led to this failure. This situation should serve as a concrete reminder of the need to determine outcomes through an objective assessment of infrastructure and capabilities. Any abstract basis for determining measurable learning outcomes and committing to them will endanger the future and growth-prospects of all academic disciplines currently taught at the UG level. 

Moreover, the directive to constitute a syllabus drafting committee by choosing and including “three best teachers” is highly arbitrary, in the absence of objective criteria for the choices. The inclusion of students, especially at a time when students are expected to focus on their internal assessment and academic preparation for the forthcoming examinations, seems equally untenable. It is evident that the University has not thought through the practical aspects of the process and has instead, opted to surrender the its academic autonomy in the face of bureaucratic pressure.

The DUTA appeals to you to consider the serious nature of the objections raised in this letter and suspend the University-dictated process in the best interests of teachers and students. The DUTA supports any genuine and inclusive process of curricular revision; however, any attempt to short-circuit democratic opinion and due-diligence in academic decision-making is unacceptable. Hence, the DUTA urges you to convene subject-wise general body meetings to take the teachers into confidence and collectively discuss determine the most acceptable way of going ahead with curricular revision. We hope for cooperation and prompt response on this matter.

Regards,