‘Controversy over DU English syllabus politically motivated’

The UGCRC suggested that poet Meena Kandasamy should be replaced by Premchand, Amitav Ghosh by R K Narayan, and any reference to the Indian People’s Theatre Association or Jan Natya Manch should be removed.

Delhi University, Delhi University English syllabus, DU English teachers, DU syllabus controversy, Delhi city news, education news, indian express

This comes in the backdrop of the Undergraduate Curriculum Revision Committee suggesting the English department to consider removing several papers, as they are “controversial”.

More than 80 English teachers across Delhi University (DU) colleges issued a statement, expressing displeasure at the controversy involving the revised English syllabus, calling it a “politically motivated attack” against a “democratically drafted syllabus”.

This comes in the backdrop of the Undergraduate Curriculum Revision Committee suggesting the English department to consider removing several papers, as they are “controversial”. The UGCRC suggested that poet Meena Kandasamy should be replaced by Premchand, Amitav Ghosh by R K Narayan, and any reference to the Indian People’s Theatre Association or Jan Natya Manch should be removed.

Head of department Dr Raj Kumar confirmed that the process of revising the syllabus had begun in 2017 with a series of General Body Meetings and stated that the process of revision had taken place over 3,000 hours with more than 120 teachers from 52 colleges. The teachers said the process of creating the syllabus began much before DU had directed departments to revise their curricula along Learning Outcomes-based Curriculum Framework lines in March 2019.

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“Discussions were minuted and circulated to ensure continuing the democratic spirit, in which the entire exercise was undertaken. The syllabus has received extensive student and faculty feedback, since it has been on the department website far longer than other subject syllabi… Objections being raised now were never submitted during the time allocated for feedback,” the statement read.

Rudrashish Chakraborty, who teaches English at Kirori Mal College, said the syllabus should be debated between teachers who teach the particular subject. “None of those raising objections are English teachers. Do they have the academic wherewithal to comment on the syllabus?” he said.

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