DU has no info on language teachers for 4-year course

Delhi University wants to make Hindi and other Modern Indian Languages as compulsory subjects in its new four year under-graduate course. But, it is not aware about the number of teachers required to teach these languages in the colleges affiliated to the university. HT reports.

Delhi University wants to make Hindi and other Modern Indian Languages as compulsory subjects in its new four year under-graduate course. But, it is not aware about 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 asked the Right To Information Act, the university said that 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 with the university 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 in his reply said that 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 the law, the RTI application has to be forwarded to the government department which holds the information sought.

He also said that the proposal to conduct centralised modern Indian language courses to address the shortages in the language faculty is nothing but a policy under which non-Hindi speakers will be discriminated. Reason being that the university has only adequate number of Hindi teaching faculty strength.

The centre has also urged the University Grants Commission to halt the plan of Delhi University to start the four year course from the coming academic year and not to introduce modern Indian languages without proper assessment of faculty strength and need of the students coming from non-Hindi speaking regions.

"The DU must not be allowed to introduce compulsory MILs which, by any definition, is discriminatory," he said.

The university's plan to introduce four year course had evoked strong reaction from faculty and students.