Guest post  by ABHA DEV HABIB: Delhi University has been in a state of utter chaos and confusion ever since admissions to the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) started with the announcement of the first cut-off list on 27 June 2013. For the first time windows were closed before time on the aspirants because of over admissions in various courses across colleges. Colleges could not have broken the rules in this manner without the backing of the DU administration. Students and parents knocked on every door including the Vice Chancellor’s but without any effect. Demanding justice, parents and students staged a dharna in one of the colleges – this too fell on deaf years. This was bound to happen with the situation of lawlessness at the University increasing day by day. The DU administration, with the support of the Government, has assumed a role beyond the bounds of rule books.

This confidence of the DU authorities that they can keep changing the rules of the game was necessary to bring in FYUP – a new academic structure in violation of the National Policy of 10+2+3 scheme. Students and teachers have continuously protested the implementation of the FYUP and their struggle has exposed the nexus which is at work to redefine Higher Education to the benefit of private players.

With the admissions to FYUP, the ramifications for affordability, equity, choice and quality shall start to unfold for students. In this note, I shall restrict myself to one such aspect.

The structure of FYUP has been touted as one which allows a student to construct her degree. One had hoped that during Open Days organized by the DU administration, the students would be counselled to make informed choices of DC-I, DC-II and AC and some guiding examples would be given. However, the counselling was limited to “how to fill the OMR admission form” – the only part the DU authorities could probably talk about with some surety.

The Executive Council in its meetings held on 9 May and 7 June 2013 amended the existing ordinances for FYUP. The same can be found at

Click to access 20613_Amendment_Ordinance.pdf

The following amendment to Ordinance II (2) (i) with regard to DC-II/AC has been adopted:

“Students shall opt for Discipline –II (DC-II)/Applied Course (AC) prior to the commencement of third semester. The DC-II / AC papers to be offered will be decided by each individual college based on the availability of teachers and infrastructure. The eligibility criteria based on preference-cum-merit for each DC-II/AC offered by a college shall be determined by the College. The College shall communicate the eligibility criteria to the University and upload the same on the college website.”

Though the DC-II and AC courses are to be taken only after semester II, the information about them should be made available from the start as they form an integral part of the degree and because future choices and employability shall depend on them. By adopting the above clause and by not immediately making available the concrete information college-wise, the DU administration is taking away from the students the right to make informed choices.

The Ordinance makes it clear that the choice of DC-II/AC papers are not unconstrained and open-ended unlike the public perception created that any student can choose any DC-II/AC papers at will and in accordance with her inclination. Therefore, the admission to a college in a DC-I stream without the knowledge of availability of DC-II/AC courses in that college will lead to misinformed / wrong choice. The list of DC-II/AC papers which the College will offer should have be made available as part of the prospectus. The number of students who will be allowed to opt each of the available DC-II/AC papers should have also been made known before a student chooses course / college. Since the opportunity available to a student to construct her degree is dependent on the choice of the college, it should be known to the student at the time of admission.

Further, the status of DC-II and AC cannot be compared to optional papers available within a stream. Hence, in case students’ choices are restricted, a reservation policy will have to be put in place. Without such a policy, reserved category students may find themselves locked out of the more popular options. The University is silent on this.

It is also not known whether the “preference-cum-merit” criteria will use class XII marks as the basis or use the marks obtained in Semester I. How will marks for a student enrolled for Physics DC-I be compared to a student enrolled for English DC-I course, for example, towards their choice of Economics as DC-II. Will a student who wishes to enrol for six papers of DC-II be given a priority over a student who wishes to pursue only three papers?

These concerns were raised in EC meetings but no efforts were made to address them. They were merely recorded as dissents by a member.

What is hidden in this amended ordinance is the reality of FYUP – it is coming without an expansion of infrastructure and without a promise of teachers to be appointed as per the need of FYUP. The 16 April 2013 letter of the Registrar to colleges, demanding preparation of workload within the constraints of available infrastructure and existing sanctioned strength of teachers, brings forth the reality in which the flawed structure of FYUP is going to operate and will prove to be a crippling system for the students.

Predictions about the ramifications of semesterization and now FYUP by the teaching fraternity are based on a deep understanding of the ground realities of the University system and our social reality. The predictions about semesterization have come true and so will be the case with FYUP. The silver-lining is that the teachers’ movement against these top-down ill-devised “reforms” which started in 2010 has today assumed the shape of joint struggles by students and teachers and has successfully drawn the attention of educators across the country towards the real purpose of these recent restructurings in Higher Education. In the next phase of struggle we will be joined by many more.

Abha Dev Habib

Member, Executive Council, DU

Physics department, Miranda House