The Puzzle of NEP implementation in DU - A possible solution

In order to facilitate implementation of NEP, Delhi University has constituted a small committee consisting of teachers and education administrators. Unfortunately, the committee is proceeding without paying attention to all the necessary aspects that must be taken into account during such an implementation. It must not be ignored that an institution as huge as Delhi University, has made several painful adjustments in the last decade till the implementation of the existing LOCF (modified CBCS) course structure. The university has very frequently been subjected to several half-cooked adventures in the names of Semesterization, FYUP followed by its withdrawal, CBCS and then modification of the same termed now as LOCF.

Fortunately for us, this time the changes are being sought based on a complete document with a well discussed and a nation-wide policy that has a plan and vision to affect reforms in this sector right from pre-nursery level to the higher education stage.

Apparently, some of the members in the committee are known to have expressed their reservations on the possible projections of this National Education Policy and therefore has been working with a preconceived confusions and misunderstandings. These misplaced academic activists are inexplicably convinced that this policy has an ‘undisclosed’ aim of reducing the workload and thereby enforcing abolition of teaching posts. With such a view, they are incapable of visualizing a situation wherein the policy can be implemented without affecting reduction in the teaching strength. I am completely taken aback at their twisted estimates as when a switch from 3 year to a 4 year course should have been ‘normally’ expected to result in increase of workload and requirement of teachers, it is being spread as a measure to reduce the teaching strength. In addition to this, a misleading fear is being allowed to make rounds that introduction of online teaching will force working non-permanent teachers to discontinue their jobs.

To just give everyone an overview of what do I mean to convey, let me work out some average estimate that can give us the confidence that such fears are completely unfounded are in all probably - politically driven.

It will hardly come as a surprise that on addition of one year study to a three-year program an increase of one third workload requirement is only logical to get estimated. However, the fact that the government has also asked the higher education sector to allow some component of online studies for the undergraduate students, it can also not be denied that such a step has a potential to reduce the workload. An intelligent implementor of the policy is thus left with the sole task to use this reduction to balance the requirement of increase in the workload due to an additional year of teaching.

To achieve this, I would suggest a 5-year strategy of implementing this policy. In the first phase during the initial three years the workload must be kept the same by not allowing online teaching. After that in the fourth year when the students will reach their fourth year of studies, some component of online teaching may be permitted in the first year to balance the additional workload requirement for fourth year students. In the fifth year, finally the desired 30 percent online component may be allowed so that it can almost compensate for the entire increased demand of workload due to the introduction of fourth year. This 5 year strategy will provide the education institutions the adequate time to develop some additional infrastructural requirements if any, visualized by them in this process. They will have enough time to plan to deal with any eventuality during this transformation. Meanwhile, all institutions can be assured in this strategy that their strength will remain the same during and after the implementation of this policy and thus they may proceed with their long pending demand of making permanent appointments. After all, the National Education Policy has also emphasized the requirement of having permanent teachers in the education institutions to make them keep their focus on their students as per the expectations of the society.

I am illustrating a table displaying only one of the possible strategies, assuming that with the 4-year course in place, the total credit requirement will jump from 148 to 192. It has been shown that how during the entire 5-year period of implementation, the credit requirements through offline course can be maintained as 148 and the additional requirement of 44 credits can be passed on to the online teaching that will pave the way for the new-age demand of blended mode of teaching and studying recommended for new-age learners and teachers.

After all, when the OBC reservation policy required 3-year for implementation, EWS reservation required 2 year of implementation, nothing should stop us from planning a five year implementation plan for a policy as important as the National Education Policy. NEP can potentially undo the damage caused to the education sector by several short-term and poorly planned reforms over the last decade. Let it be planned in a manner that will ensure a stable workload throughout the implementation period and after it, as per the table shown above.

Teachers poised to reclaim DUTA in 2021

The coming Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) elections are going to be very crucial. Historically, DUTA had come into reckoning after it got the second promotion of readership for the college teachers in eighties as a result of a long strike that continued for more than 80 days. This success also helped University teachers in getting promoted to the post of Professors on a large scale. Some 'conservative educationists' used to run these promoted Professors down by branding them as DUTA Professors. But DUTA has been claiming its glory since then as they could successfully facilitate indiscriminating promotions on a large scale, realized by both the University and College teachers. DUTA became known in the entire country on posting this particular achievement. DUTA activists drew recognition when they ensured that promotions were not denied to almost anyone. Even today, DUTA draws its strength from this anecdotal success story. In the last more than two decades however, DUTA movement could not repeat even a fraction of such a success.

Although DUTA has no such success story since then, it did try to repeat its glorious performance during the struggles against semesterization that ended in failure and FYUPization (Four Year Undergraduate Program) that culminated in a delayed success but this success was far from being as impressive. DUTA’s activism continued in the last two decades but the successes more often than not, used to be on a limited scale. Recently, to save itself from becoming irrelevant, DUTA have indulged into some issues that rarely bothered teachers of DU on a large scale and were more political in nature and substance. DUTA has also been playing around with priorities of issues for reasons driven more by politics than welfare of teachers. Hesitance in picking up the issues of continuing apathy of ad-hoc teachers and then against the insensitive attitude of Delhi Government in granting funds for salaries in their colleges has opened the eyes of the entire teaching community. When teachers were passing through the darkest phase of no promotions, no appointments and no salaries, DUTA kept itself increasingly engaged in other issues that demanded lesser attention than these. The size of such mistaken priorities grew in abundance especially since 2014. Intolerance towards the government that came at the center in 2014, never made DUTA believe in the UGC regulations 2018. DUTA kept on looking for only negatives of the document with a sense of disbelief and mistrust, although there were very few for their discomfort.

Come 2021, and the scenario changed for good this year. The success story of promotions witnessed by the teachers in the era of eighties has got repeated in 2021. In its earlier version, teachers got promoted to the post of Readers, and this time they got promoted to the posts of Associate Professors and Professors in a similar way. That DUTA is finding it difficult to claim this achievement, lies in the fact that they never let the teachers believe in the positive aspects of the UGC Regulations. NDTF (National Democratic Teachers Front), a right wing teachers organization, displayed exemplary confidence in the UGC Regulations 2018 and kept on projecting its unbelievable provisions as realizable when others claimed them to be unrealistic and unrealizable. This confidence of NDTF and its current presidential candidate Prof. A. K. Bhagi that led this dream come true has made them emerge as the real hero in this entire dream-like sequence that is running for almost a year till now. There may have been some failures, but the successes are so enormous that failures have been rendered as aberrations rather than rule. And this has changed the scenario. This has generated a lot of hope and positivity in the teaching community. With NDTF claiming to support ‘regularization’ of working adhoc teachers after running the success show on promotion story, their promises have ignited many hopes to realistic levels. Teachers seems to be in a clear mood to take a plunge, to give their hope a chance and thereby to reclaim the old glory of DUTA. Writing is on the wall and after more than two decades of absence, time is destined to give NDTF its well-deserved and well-earned chance to show its mettle and resolve in fulfilling their promises and hopes. 

Data speaks for itself: The Campus environment is set to change

Let some data and facts given below, speak for itself:

Students of Kerala Board will not be eligible any more for admission in the second list as being hundred percenters, almost all of 4824 students were eligible for the first cut off. 

However, there are around 8 to 9000 seats available in the Campus Colleges for admissions this year. And the 2365 hundred percenters from a single board must have got admissions on these 8 to 9000 seats of the Campus Colleges. Ask any security agency to realize that to control the students politics and to paralyze the functioning of DU Campus, 500 dedicated volunteers would be more than enough if they are residing around and within the Campus (hostels) to make themselves available on a few minutes call. My apprehension is that in reality the number will exceed this 500 threshold by a good amount.

Just look at these figures. In one prestigious Campus college of Delhi University on the Sudhir Bose Marg

• In Zoology Hons 60 out of 70 from Kerala Board
• In Political Science 149 out of 150 from Kerala Board

Another premier Campus college near Maurice Nagar

• In Political Science Hons 29 out of 29 hundred percenter are from Kerala Board
• In B.Com, out of 40 candidates having hundred percent marks all belong to Kerala Board

 In yet another premier college in the North Campus situated on Chhatra Marg:

• In History Hons 9 out of 9 from Kerala Board
• In Sociology Hons 10 out of 10 from Kerala Board
• In English Hons 36 out 38 from Kerala Board
• In Political Science 43 out of 44 from Kerala Board

Examples are plenty. Trend is extremely unusual and demands due attention.

An HT article claims that according to the CBSE board only 550 students have been given more than 99 percent marks. Similarly Kerala Board claims about 700 students have been given hundred percent marks. However, DU claimed that 4,824 students of Kerala Board have hundred percent and around 3000 of CBSE have the same. The catch lies in the fact that DU calculates the percentage only based on Four papers and that too only in class 12. While Kerala Board considers all the papers and for 11 and 12 both, CBSE considers Five papers of the class 12. Please have a look at the following table to get to realize the actual scenario. All approximations have been done based on the numbers available on the authentic internet sites. 

Total seats in Campus colleges available for admissions 85000 approximately:

Name of the Board	Total number of pass-outs in class 12	Total applicants for DU	Number of students based on slots of marks	Suggestive percentage in four best papers for cut off based admissions in DU (Total 9200 as claimed by the registrar)	Admission taken in DU with hundred percent marks in their Best Four
CBSE	13,69,000	46,054	Less than 550 as about 550 candidates scored more than 99%	Unconfirmed sources claim this to be around 3000	around 100
KERALA State Board	3,20,000	4,824	Roughly estimated as 700	4800 as claimed through DU sources in news reports	2365
All Other Boards combined	Estimated as 60 to 70,00,000	10,026	No estimates	Around 1400	around 100

 

About 2500 students of Kerala Board did not opt for DU this year and only 2365 candidates out of 4824 students having perfect scores of hundred percent have got admitted in one of the colleges in the North campus that has a strength of 8 to 9000 students. This number in all probability is almost 90 percent of all such candidates having hundred percent. These students having such marks will claim even the hostel seats very comfortably. Only 10 percent of those having hundred percent belong to all Boards other than Kerala Board.

So, the plan has already been successfully executed. The environment of the class and the Campus will get impacted immediately with a sudden and significant demographic transformation. And as a logical conclusion, I am preparing myself for a continuous political disturbance in the Campus at the cost of our teaching-learning environment. 

Response to Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s Article “Weaponising faith: The Gyanvapi Mosque-Kashi Vishwanath dispute” Published in The Indian Express on April 13, 2021

Look at the audacity with which Mr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes in his column, “The purpose is not to craft a connection with Shiva or Krishna, the purpose is to permanently indict minorities. It is to use a sacred place of worship as a weaponised tool against another community.” Did he and his other ‘secular’ friends ever say similar words for those who actually did this in the name of Islam? They never asked them to even be apologetic and instead helped them in glorifying their acts. Ironically, they want victims to be demonised. Just notice the way Brahmins of the time, when they were actually being especially targeted for persecution by Islamic invaders including Mughals, have been demonized in the article. He states that Pandit Jagannath was outcasted for marrying a muslim girl! The fact that Pandit Jagannath served in the courts of barbaric Mughal invaders has been wiped out to suit his narrative. Mr Pratap Bhanu refrained from demonizing Aurangzeb, but did not lose the opportunity to demonize those who were actually trying to preserve and protect themselves in the barbaric Mughal/Islamic regime known for carrying out massacre of Brahmins and destruction of temples! It is really strange that for ‘Seculars’, instead of Mughals, Brahmins were the criminal culprits even when they were being killed and persecuted!

 

The ‘secular blindness’ clearly gets reflected in his statement when he states that destroying a place of faith is ‘exactly same’ as correcting the act “In the past, the destruction of religious shrines may have been the function of state power. But modern India cannot repeat the same logic. We cannot say that because political power has changed hands, so must the power to define the religious landscape. The demand that Kashi or Mathura be returned is exactly that.”. He assumes as if a fresh and undisputed place of worship is being taken up at Gyanvapi. As a matter of fact, far from indicting a fresh wound to the other side the intention is only to heal the old wound. The religion that has actually weaponized faith since medieval period has never been asked by these ‘seculars’ to amend their ways but the victims have been continuously asked not to get their wounds healed because it would hurt those who wounded them! Logic and reasoning had already deserted the 'Seculars' of India and now they have clearly lost their mind. After all, you need to possess a high level of irrationality to spend centuries in demonizing the persecuted victims and glorifying the barbaric Islamic invaders.

Celebrations can Wait

Promotions are only serving as balm for our collective pain temporarily, as the University will not be cured unless the University begins transforming into having an adequate number of permanent teachers.

It is indeed very satisfying to witness teachers getting smoothly promoted to stage II and stage III. Promotion to the Associate Professorship has also become a reality. And above all, the mirage of promotion to Professorship in the colleges has actually been realized this time.

The reason however, behind the fact that this era of hope started as late as now despite more than six-year rule of this central government is simply inexplicable. It is even more intriguing that the delay happened despite the fact that the government was committed to all these from its early days. This is something that needs to be analyzed, decoded and reasoned out. Was this inordinate delay due to one single person or the blame needs to be shared equally with the government and other local strategists who failed in making assessment and taking timely remedial actions? The fact that it all started after sidelining one single person, underlines an unpardonable failure of those who had the responsibility to convey and convince the government to do that well in time. For, while teachers are getting promoted retrospectively without the dates of promotions getting adversely impacted, those who were waiting for a chance to become permanent will never be as lucky. The widespread celebration of these much awaited promotions might have boosted an image or two personally but it hardly soothes the pain of more than half of the teachers who have been waiting to get a chance  to become permanent. In comparison with those who got promoted from back date, these mortals will not be that lucky. They will remain at a disadvantage even if they are lucky enough to become permanent somehow now.

The public celebration of promotions leaves a bitter taste behind. I do not know if those who are waiting to become permanent for the last 5-10 years are feeling as being ridiculed at or if it is enhancing and aggravating their pain and misery, but in both the cases such celebration leaves a long lasting avoidable impression on suffering minds. In view of this, it must be honestly analyzed as to what went wrong during the last six years so that precautions can be taken at this crucial juncture when the University is looking forward to welcoming a fresh regime of five years.

Let us end the nightmare surrounding half of the teachers and create an environment of collective celebration. Celebration must wait.