DU's Executive Council passes resolution on teacher-student ratio

Delhi University's Executive Council (EC) on Friday gave its nod to a controversial notification on the teacher-student ratio for lectures and tutorials, despite opposition from some of its members.

Vice Chancellor (VC) Yogesh Singh used his emergency powers in the matter, according to an EC member.

In a notification issued last month, the university had capped the class size for lectures and tutorials at 60 and 30 respectively.

The resolution was passed in Friday's meeting despite opposition from some of the members. The VC used his emergency powers to pass the resolution, the EC member cited above said.

Three members of the EC disapproved of the use of emergency powers by Singh.

"The use of Emergency Powers on a policy matter is a subversion of Statutory Bodies. It is a misuse of the powers given by Statute 11 (G) which is an enabling clause to deal with unforeseen circumstances.

"Even as the meetings of the Academic Council and the Executive Council were already scheduled, DU Notification of 16.05.2023 and 1.5.2023 regarding 8 am to 8 pm show a total disregard for democratic statutory processes," the members said in a dissent note.

In its notification on the teacher-student ratio issued on May 16, the university had said that colleges and departments will have the option to increase or decrease the class size by 20 per cent.

The class size for various value addition courses and skill enhancement courses would be within the range of 20 to 60, it had said.

In undergraduate programmes, the general elective papers will be able to accommodate 20 to 60 students for lectures and 20 to 30 students for tutorials and practicals, according to the notification.

"Colleges may make arrangements for practical classes in a way that the laboratory facilities are put to optimal utilisation," the university said.

In November last year, the university had increased the class size for tutorials to 30 and for practicals to 25. Earlier, the class size for tutorials was 10-12 and 12-15 for practicals.

The May 16 notification allows for an "even more skewed" teacher-student ratio, the three EC members said.

"As per the notification, class size, tutorials and practicals can vary from 48 to 72, 24 to 36 and 20 to 30 respectively. This means that it will be again left to colleges to manage somehow -- all will depend on the teacher cap and demands of restructuring for a unit," they pointed out.

"We dissent on the subversion of the Academic and Executive Council and in placing a policy which is anti-student and is unacademic," they said.