Remove 'Controversial' Caste-Related Topics, Courses on Pakistan, China: DU Panel
New Delhi: A meeting of Delhi University's Standing Committee for Academic Matters on Wednesday (June 25) has resulted in criticism from faculty members and allegations of "overreach", after the committee said key readings and units from the postgraduate geography and sociology courses should be removed. The faculty was also told to drop several courses completely.
The courses that the committee said should be dropped in their entirety, according to a statement released by committee member and associate professor at Kamala Nehru College Dr Monami Sinha, are 'Pakistan and the World', 'China's Role in the Contemporary World', 'Islam and International Relations', 'Pakistan: State and Society' and 'Religious Nationalism and Political Violence'.
"All of the above courses were dropped and asked to be changed, despite opposition from myself and several other members of the Standing Committee. We argued that it is imperative to study Pakistan in detail because, pedagogically, we need to train our students and foster scholarship on Pakistan, as it remains one of India's constant foreign policy challenges. Not having adequate knowledge of our geopolitical adversaries may leave us at a strategic disadvantage. Likewise, studying China is critical in a rapidly changing, multipolar world where China is likely to lead many Global South nations. Ignoring this reality would be academically short-sighted," Sinha's statement reads.
From the geography postgraduate syllabus, two significant cuts were made to the 'Territorial Bases of Politics in India' course – a section on religious conflict and 'Internal Conflicts and Problems of Nation Building'. In the 'Social Geography' course, the section on 'Distribution of SC Population' saw objection with the committee chair stating that "caste-related topics that are considered controversial should be de-emphasised", according to Sinha.
In the sociology postgraduate syllabus as well, objections were raised to various aspects of the course and the committee said that the 'Introduction to Sociological Theory' course should include Indian thinkers and not highlight highlight Marx, Weber and Durkheim.
In a section of the course of families, the committee said the joint family system should be included and a reading on queer relationships by K. Weston, 'Families We Choose: Lesbians, Gays, Kinship', removed since same-sex marriage is not legal in India.
In the course 'Sociology of Religion', "the Chair felt that the syllabus was unnecessarily controversial and biased", Sinha has stated. "The Chair insisted that rishi-muni be included and questioned why only "church" was mentioned and not other places of worship. The Head attempted to explain that 'Prophet, Priest, and Guru' are academic categories and do not represent any particular religion. Similarly, it was clarified that 'church, sect, cult' are academic phrases used in sociology to refer to types of organised religion, and are not specific to Christianity. However, the Chair remained unconvinced and stated that the syllabus was attributing religious authority to only one tradition. Despite being informed that in sociology, everyday terms may carry different academic meanings, Unit IV was asked to be revisited."
Rudrashish Chakraborty, associate professor in the Department of English, Kirori Mal College and a member of the Delhi University Teachers' Association, has also issued a statement against the Standing Committee's decisions, saying that while the committee is free to make suggestions, its decision to order departments to "change their syllabi defies academic rationale and is an act of overreach".
"Moreover the departments have the expertise in their respective disciplines to decide on the course contents which should come through the Committee of Courses. It is unfortunate that the Standing Committee has not followed the protocol required in academic decisions and syllabus making: and has succumbed to extraneous considerations which are inimical to the teaching-learning process," he continues.
"The University administration of DU has forgotten the fact that the University space is meant for a ruthless and dispassionate debate to foster critical thinking; it is not meant to produce conformist, mediocre minds which can only lead to the cult of hero worship. Instead of cancelling uncomfortable questions, one needs to always engage even with the perceived 'other' to equip oneself with the intellectual wherewithal to tackle the 'other' in the new global geopolitical order," Chakraborty has said.
Abha Dev Habib, secretary of the Democratic Teachers' Front and an associate professor of physics at Miranda House, added, "Academic autonomy of Departments stands eroded. Dumbing down of courses by revisions centred around 'beliefs' rather than questions of pedagogy and scientific inquiry is unfortunate. Forced revisions are retrograde and are politically motivated. ...These forced changes will adversely impact scholarship of students. This should worry all of us."
Another meeting of the Standing Committee will be held on July 1 to further discuss these new syllabi for these subjects.
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