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DU’s SOL students want semester system postponed
New Delhi
New Delhi
Students from Delhi University’s School of Open Learning (SOL) on Monday submitted a memorandum to the University Grants Commission (UGC) over the implementation of the semester system in SOL.
The students protested outside UGC, and asked the commission to take action against the varsity and postpone the implementation to the next academic session.
In August, the university had asked SOL to switch from the annual to semester mode to ensure parity with regular DU colleges, which had adopted the choice-based credit system (CBCS) in 2015.
Students alleged the decision had led to “mismanagement and chaos” since the administration did not finalise the syllabus, self-learning material, and proper infrastructure before deciding to implement the semester system.
“The prospectus uploaded by SOL on its website said students were taking admission in annual-mode programmes. Over two months after the admission process started, the executive council decided to implement the CBCS system. This is a violation of the promise made in the prospectus that the admission would be in annual mode,” Harish Gautam, a SOL student and member of student outfit Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS), said.
Students said there was little clarity over the syllabus among teachers as well. “SOL is so unprepared that till now even the study material that had to be mandatorily provided to the students had not been made available to most of them even as exams are due next month and the date-sheet has been announced,” Gautam added.
Denying the allegations, officer on special duty at SOL, Ramesh Bhardwaj, said, “The online study material was ready by August second week and uploaded. We have been distributing the printed material for over a month now. Classes are also being conducted smoothly. If we didn’t implement semester system this year, their degrees would have been derecognised as per UGC guidelines on open distance learning.”
