Critiquing Reforms in Higher Education : Understanding the ‘Education Question’ in India

We have not abandoned purely student demands, but the best way to bring the university into question is to intensify the workers’ movement. – Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Jean-Pierre Duteuil, March 22nd Movement, 1968 It was towards the end of 2012 that the academic community of Delhi University (DU) learnt of Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh’s decision to usher in the four year undergraduate programme (FYUP). As more came to light on the proposed academic ‘reforms’, and departments began to be instructed to devise a new course structure before the start of the 2013–14 academic session, a sizeable section of DU’s academia as well as progressive and democratic student/youth organisations began to agitate. However, a significant section of the academia remained silent if not cooperative or passive supporters of the FYUP.