India News | DU Executive Council Approves Curriculum Overhaul, Introduces New Courses, Policy Reforms
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Delhi University's Executive Council in its 1275th meeting held on Friday approved sweeping revisions to the curriculum in various departments, including Psychology, Sociology and English, while also clearing new programs in journalism and nuclear medicine, uniform teacher seniority rules and administrative measures.
New Delhi, May 23 (PTI) Delhi University's Executive Council in its 1275th meeting held on Friday approved sweeping revisions to the curriculum in various departments, including Psychology, Sociology and English, while also clearing new programs in journalism and nuclear medicine, uniform teacher seniority rules and administrative measures.
The Executive Council (EC), the highest statutory body, approved revisions to the elective paper Psychology of Peace, replacing conflict-based case studies with references from the Indian epics for peace and conflict resolution. In Relationship Science, a unit examining dating apps was also dropped.
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Sociology curriculum changes removed foundational theorists like Karl Marx and Thomas Robert Malthus from the paper Population and Society and scrapped a unit on the Sociology of Food.
Meanwhile, the Indian authors, particularly those focused on religion, were emphasized in the Sociology of Law.
The meeting was, however, marked by strong dissent from several elected EC members over what they termed "ideological interference" and "systematic erosion of academic autonomy". Controversial syllabus changes include the removal of case studies involving Kashmir, Palestine, India-Pakistan tensions and the Northeast, replaced by the Indian religious texts such as the Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita.
The changes triggered sharp opposition from the faculty and elected EC members.
EC member Rudrashish Chakraborty, who is an associate professor at Kirori Mal College, said “this is nothing short of mutilation of academic disciplines”.
“There is an abject compromise on course quality and complete disregard for disciplinary expertise. These arbitrary changes, driven by ideology, diminish the global credibility of our courses,” he added.
In parallel, the Delhi University (DU) is launching new programs. A two-year MA in Journalism will be introduced through both Hindi and English departments. A BSc in Nuclear Medicine Technology will begin at the Army Hospital (R&R) under the Faculty of Medical Sciences, open to qualified Armed Forces Medical Services personnel.
On administrative matters, the EC approved new uniform rules for determining teacher seniority. In cases where qualifications are equal, age will be the deciding factor followed by API scores.
Additionally, EC member Aman Kumar told PTI that Vice Chancellor Prof. Yogesh Singh has formed a nine-member committee to review the DoPT notification mandating periodic review of employees aged 50 or above and enabling compulsory retirement where applicable.
“The committee will examine the impact of this policy on the DU employees and ensure fairness in its implementation,” he said.
Registrar Dr Vikas Gupta addressed concerns about the four-year undergraduate framework under NEP 2020, reaffirming that students would benefit from multiple exit and re-entry points and receive formal credentials at each stage.
The meeting began with a tribute to those killed in the recent Pahalgam terror attack and a resolution was passed expressing the DU's support for the Government of India's Operation Sindoor, aimed at eliminating terrorism.
Despite the administration's emphasis on modernization and national priorities, critics argue that DU's reforms threaten academic freedom and institutional integrity.
“These decisions may serve short-term political objectives, but they will undermine the long-term academic standing of Delhi University,” said Chakraborty.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)