Aug 7, The academic calendar at Delhi University (DU) which has been disrupted for the past three years will be back on track this year as the classes for undergraduate programmes are scheduled to begin on August 16.

The university will also hold its first students’ union election since 2020, officials said, adding the poll is likely to be conducted in September or October.

The academic calendar was disturbed due to the Covid pandemic. This year, however, the students will have a more synchronised calendar, the officials said.

“The new academic session of Delhi University would start from August 16,” a DU official said.

The admission process is underway and Monday is the last day for the first round of seat allocation. The DU offers 71,000 seats across 78 undergraduate programmes and 198 BA programme combinations through its 68 colleges.

The pandemic had disturbed the academic calendar which resulted in a few-day break or no break across colleges. It also impacted the uniformity of semesters as classes were starting at different times.

Teachers had also been demanding a one-month compulsory break as “continuous working was impacting their mental health”, the varsity said.

This year, new courses are being introduced including three BTech programmes and five-year LLB.

“Three new BTech programmes are being started, in which each of the 360 enrolled students will be reimbursed up to Rs 50,000 by the university on the purchase of a laptop. From this academic session, new programmes like five-year LLB and integrated teacher education programme (ITEP) are also being started,” the official said.

The DU has also given a choice to its students to opt for three-year or four-year programmes. Students will be studying the modified syllabus based on Undergraduate Curriculum Framework 2022 implemented from the academic session 2022-23.

Several controversial changes have been made to the curriculum. The university has removed a chapter on Pakistan’s national poet Muhammad Iqbal from the political science syllabus. The chapter titled ‘Modern Indian Political Thought’ is part of BA’s sixth semester paper.

After the protest, DU’s political science department has reinstated the ‘Gandhi and the Contemporary World’ paper in the revised syllabus of semester IV.

The admissions in BA fine arts in the College of Arts will also be done through the common seat allocation system (CSAS) this year.

The varsity has also included a supernumerary quota for orphan students this year. “The University of Delhi and affiliated colleges will admit two candidates (one male and one female) under this quota in each programme at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels,” the official said.

Source: PTI
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