DU’s weekend-evening classes to improve test scores faces pushback

The agenda item in this regard said: “Holding of classes of such students from 6 to 8 pm or on Saturdays or Sundays or both the days.”

New Delhi

Students can improve their marks in exams, internal assessments, practicals or continuous assessments of a course from a previous semester. (Representative photo/HT Archive)

Principals of colleges associated with the Delhi University (DU), as well as members of its academic council (AC), questioned the university’s decision to hold late-evening classes on weekends for students who wished to improve their marks in exams, internal assessments, practicals or continuous assessments of a course from a previous semester.

The agenda item in this regard, which was accessed by HT, was passed in an AC meeting on Saturday. It said: “Holding of classes of such students from 6 to 8 pm or on Saturdays or Sundays or both the days.”

However, stakeholders concerned questioned the feasibility of the decision, highlighting challenges, such as overlapping of classes with current semester and lack of information on remuneration for teachers who hold these classes. The note said that teachers “may be paid honorarium as per norms of the University if they take such classes over and above their prescribed workload in the College”.

In a dissent note, four AC members said: “Given that the University has decided that the minimum class size is 20 students, under what provisions ‘honorarium as per norms of the University’ will be paid? Will this mean that the cost of studying this paper will be shouldered by the student? Why is the proposal silent on the fees for such an improvement?”

The agenda item cited the recommendation of a committeeformed to examine challenges faced by students who wished to improve their marks cumulatively or of a course or multiple courses in all components: the internal assessment (IA), continuous assessment (CA), practical components, and paper.

An AC member, requesting anonymity, said the university approved a similar plan in 2023, but it was not implemented. The committee later suggested improving IA marks by re-registering for the course and improve class test and assignment scores through self-study.

TheAC member, requesting anonymity, said: “Additionally, for continuous assessment, the council has passed that classes can be held from 6pm to 8pm to avoid overlap with their current semester classes. The problem is that colleges had also been saying that once the first batch of undergraduate fourth year starts, the timetable may be extended to the evening hours to accommodate extra hours for research and other components. There is no clarity on how this is going to work.”

Latika Gupta, an elected academic council member and a professor with the department of education, DU, said, “There is going to be an overlap and huge chaos. Teachers are already overloaded with work and more hours are being added to their schedule. Students have no time to study, nor do teachers have the time to study or even plan.”

Monami Sinha, an associate professor with Kamala Nehru College and an AC member, said, “Students are already coping with multiple papers in each semester, leaving them with little time for self-study. For students to attend classes of a paper or more for improvement from 6pm-8pm on Saturdays and Sundays is a difficult task and will further add to their stress. The safety of students also remains a concern, as to how they will return home so late. On top of that, how teachers are supposed to keep working throughout the week without breaks remains a concern. In a way, our service conditions are also not being respected.”

Dinesh Khattar, principal of Kirori Mal College, said, “While it will be challenging, the timetable will be created in such a way that teachers who are working from morning will be free by afternoon and others who start in the afternoon can take the classes in the later half. We have already planned multiple meetings within this week, following which a proper timetable and implementation of the same will be planned.”