DU doesn’t have count of language teachers: RTI

Delhi University wants to make Hindi and other modern Indian languages compulsory under its new four-year undergraduate course. But it is not aware of the number of teachers required to teach these languages in the colleges affiliated to the university.

Delhi University wants to make Hindi and other modern Indian languages compulsory under its new four-year undergraduate course. But it is not aware of the number of teachers required to teach these languages in the colleges affiliated to the university.

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In a reply to questions posed in an RTI application, the university said it has no information about the number of staff teaching modern Indian languages in Delhi University.

Suhas Chakma, director of Asian Centre for Human Rights, had filed an RTI application, seeking information on number of language teachers in the university affiliated colleges, who would be running the four-year course.

The deputy registrar of the university said no such information is maintained at the university level. He instead asked Chakma to seek information from colleges, a violation of the RTI Act. As per law, the RTI application has to be forwarded to the government department which holds the information sought.

Chakma said that the response of the university shows that it has not even conducted the basic assessment about faculty strength before introducing compulsory modern Indian languages.

The centre has also urged the UGC to halt Delhi University’s plan to implement the four-year course from the coming academic session.

It also sought to bar the introduction of modern Indian languages without proper assessment of faculty strength and need of the students coming from non-Hindi speaking regions.

“DU must not be allowed to introduce compulsory languages which, by any definition, is discriminatory,” Chakma said.