Hindi a must for B.Com(H) students in second semester

The Delhi University may be touting academic reforms as being pro-student and flexible but for students of B.Com (honours), the claims fall flat. HT reports.

The Delhi University may be touting academic reforms as being pro-student and flexible but for students of B.Com (honours), the claims fall flat.

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All B.Com (honours) students, even if they have studied Hindi only till Class 8, will have to opt for the language in the second semester.

This includes students from north-eastern India and southern India, who are not very comfortable with the language.

Only those students who have never studied any Hindi at all will be allowed to take a modern Indian language such as Manipuri, Tamil or Telugu.

Being forced to study Hindi as a compulsory subject in the second semester, the students are now revolting and have started a signature campaign.

“Our seniors got a chance to study political science and history but all of us are being forced to study Hindi. I don’t understand why the university is forcing its choice upon us. I studied Hindi only till Class 8 and am not comfortable writing in it at all. Why should the university dictate which language I have to study? Where is the choice?” said Aakriti, a student at Shri Ram College for Commerce who chose to reveal only her first name.

The teachers claimed the syllabus the academic council passed had the option of taking up humanities which was overridden by a letter from the registrar that removed humanities subjects from the choice.

“The syllabus on the university website also, till some time back, showed the option clearly and was changed by the university very recently. This university wants to portray a global face but it is falling into the trap of forcing its students to study a subject,” said a teacher on condition of anonymity.

The university, however, said the option was removed last year and the new rule to study Hindi will have to be followed.

“Hindi is the official language of the country and the decision was taken keeping in mind that students are supposed to study the language. Those students who have not studied any Hindi are given the choice of studying other Indian languages,” said a university official, who wished to remain anonymous.