I toiled through years of examinations, aspiring to be in India’s best university and at one point my dream varsity, the Delhi University. For me, DU wasn’t just a door to my career but a whole new beginning.
Little did I know that I was stepping into classrooms of politics, manipulation, protests, and bias. Exactly a year ago, I was looking forward to studying at the prestigious university, but now I am wondering what I’m doing.
In a semester, some DU colleges conduct barely 25-30 classes, purportedly due to strikes called by the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA). This raises the question of ethics in the teaching profession, and responsibilities of the teachers who do not take classes in the name of ‘fighting for justice’.
I wonder what kind of justice they do to students who come from middle-class and lower middle-class families, and who aspire to learn from the “best teachers”. Incomplete syllabus till exams come knocking on our door, un-assessed assignments, and lack of class tests stand as evidence if their lax attitude.
In most of the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) affiliated colleges of South Campus, teachers grant free attendance and internal marks to students. The reason becomes obvious when these teachers approach students to join their protests and campaigns.
At a sensitive time like this, where youngsters are battling a crisis of nationalism versus anti-nationalism, it is the duty of a teacher to truthfully interpret a text to a student, without bias. But Delhi University has become a battle ground for proving personal political agenda as the ‘ultimate truth’ to students.
Professors holding various political affiliations, some even members of parties, try to colour the minds of students as per their own leanings and ideologies. Shouldn’t the focus be on facts, which ought to be left for the students to interpret in their own way, without any bias?
I once believed that university is a battleground for ignorance and knowledge but sadly, it has become a battleground for the war between manifestos and political leaders.
Recently, the DUTA asked teachers to boycott the evaluation process, keeping at stake the careers of thousands of final year students who depend on these marks for higher studies. I do not blame only the teachers, but I rather blame the system of education that runs in Delhi University. I question the authority of education that is nothing more than a hype of agenda and personal interest. While education ought to mould young people into worthy, responsible citizens, here we are instead, caged by dogma.
Welcome to Delhi University!
(The author is a student of DU and wants to remain anonymous. This is a personal blog and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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