New Delhi: Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS) activists, along with common students from different colleges of Delhi University as well as the School of Open Learning (SOL), organised a massive protest March in North Campus. This march was organised as part of a campaign to raise concerns regarding various burning issues that are plaguing the future of students in DU. The march saw massive participation of students despite continuous rain and water-logging.
According to a press release on Thursday, a range of issues that were raised in today's march included the issue of steep fee hikes. The statement mentioned that fees have risen massively in Delhi University, with some courses reporting more than 300 per cent increase in fees. The Higher Education Financing Agency - National Education Policy 2020 (HEFA-NEP 2020) model of loans instead of grants to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) has led to such a hefty increase in fees. This HEFA-NEP 2020 model and its appended fee hike policy must be immediately rolled back.
Moreover, the issue of sub-standard SOL study materials was also raised. It should be noted that year after year, the School of Open Learning (SOL) has callously endangered the academic life of students from marginalised sections by preparing and providing faulty study materials. Despite repeated objections in DU's statutory bodies about such poor-quality study material to lakhs of students who are largely first-generation learners, it remains in circulation, the press release stated.
It was demanded that all sub-standard SOL materials must be immediately withdrawn and an independent academic audit must be instituted, the press release said.
Also, the issue of students from social margins dropping out or falling behind due to lack of measures to help them academically was emphasised. For this, remedial classes for students from social margins must be started. Moreover, DU's Translation Cell must be revamped to ensure that texts are available in vernacular languages.
The issue of a minuscule number of seats for 1-year postgraduate courses was emphasised. It should be noted that DU was one of the first higher education institutions across India to start the four-year undergraduate programme across all courses post which aspiring students were to enrol in 1-year PG courses. But the number of seats in one-year courses is very low across 46 departments. As per reports, the number of students eligible to pursue one-year master's courses is more than 31,000 across various colleges in DU.
The press release further stated that the measure of starting four-year undergraduate courses was in line with the National Education Policy 2020, which promised one-year master's courses to the four-year undergraduates. Now, however, this promise is being betrayed, and students' dreams are being shattered. It was demanded that seats for one-year postgraduate courses should be increased substantially along with allocation of more funds and faculty so as to accommodate all the four-year UG students who wish to pursue one-year postgraduate courses.
Apart from these issues, several other important concerns were also voiced such as scrapping of useless SECs and VACs and reform in the syllabi, institution of 10% Deprivation Points for government school students in admissions, zero tolerance towards sexual harassment and independence of Internal Complaints Committees (ICCs), taking measures to make DU disabled-inclusive, and stopping of restrictions on self-expression and peaceful activities and the curbs on democratic rights of students.
KYS will intensify the struggle if these demands are not speedily met, the press release said.
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