Delhi University's EC clears all curriculum changes amid faculty dissent

Hindustan Times

24-05-2025

The Executive Council (EC) of Delhi University (DU) on Friday approved several changes to departmental curricula and other academic matters based on recommendations made by its standing committee on academic affairs, despite opposition from elected members and concerns over academic autonomy.
The revisions follow recommendations by the standing committee on academic affairs and had earlier received assent from the Academic Council (AC).
Departments affected include Psychology, Sociology, and History. In Psychology, topics such as sexual orientation, dating apps, caste and religious identity, Kashmir, and the Israel-Palestine conflict were reportedly marked for removal. In their place, the committee proposed the inclusion of the Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita to explore the 'psychology of peace.'
'After considering the recommendations made in the DU Academic Council meeting held on May 10, the curriculum of various departments and programmes were also approved by the EC,' said a university official, requesting anonymity.
The standing committee had earlier cleared these revisions over three meetings on May 2, 6, and 8. However, those meetings were marked by dissent from faculty members, including department heads, who alleged interference and a lack of disciplinary expertise on the committee.
Mithuraaj Dhusiya, an elected EC member, submitted a dissent note during Friday's meeting, criticising the process.
'The conduct of the three meetings… in the run-up to the AC meeting clearly undermined the autonomy of the departments. The university officials, none of whom have expertise in disciplines like Psychology, Philosophy, Sociology and History, directed HoDs of these departments to make changes in various papers which are arbitrary, unacademic and out of sync with the overall learning objectives,' the note read.
The EC also addressed the contentious issue of determining teacher seniority within departments. DU clarified in a statement that when relative qualifications are equal, seniority will now be based on age. If age is also identical, it will be determined using the Academic Performance Indicator (API) score.
However, the proposed reliance on API scores drew criticism from faculty.
'DU is trying to use the API score to determine seniority of teachers in case of a tie between teachers across categories. It is pertinent to mention here that the selection of teachers across colleges and the University departments did not happen as per API score. The final selection of candidates happened because of 100% weightage given to the selection committee,' said a DU Teachers' Association member, Rudrashish Chakraborty.
Other decisions approved at the meeting include the introduction of a BSc in Nuclear Medicine Technology at Army Hospital (R&R), Delhi Cantt, under the Faculty of Medical Sciences. Additionally, the MA Journalism programme will now be jointly offered by the Hindi and English departments.