‘Academic Reforms’ in Delhi University : A Case Study of Systematic Destruction

No academic restructuring in Delhi University (DU) has left the largest section of its teachers feeling as embittered, alienated and worried as the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP). Teachers thronged the Special General Body Meeting of the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) on 12 May 2013 to unanimously reject the FYUP and demand the removal of the university’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Dinesh Singh. Days before this, the DU Vice Chancellor had made disparaging remarks about the teaching community, eminent academicians and the Parliament in an interview given to The Times of India. His rash and unacceptable outburst was occasioned by the growing voices of dissent and concern, expressed in the public domain and the media, against the entirely un-academic haste with which the VC-led DU administration was pushing through the implementation of the FYUP.