Protest against DU's four-year undergraduate programme intensifies

Even though admissions to the four-year undergraduate programme in Delhi University were going on, protests demanding the programme's roll-back gathered momentum Friday with the NSUI joining the bandwagon.

The National Student's Union of India (NSUI), student wing of the Congress party which until last year was neutral about the four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP), Friday started a hunger strike at the north campus, demanding roll-back of the programme.

"It was something new so last year, we neither supported nor protested against the structure, but now after a year, we conducted a survey and have found that it is not good academically and students are not happy with it," Amrish Ranjan Pandey, NSUI national spokesperson, told IANS.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which has been regularly protesting against the FYUP, Friday staged a protest outside University Grants Commission (UGC) office here.

"We have been fighting against the FYUP since the time it was implemented and as UGC is the highest authority, we now want it to intervene and take action. We met the UGC joint secretary and handed our memorandum to roll-back the structure, as it is against the national education policy," Saket Bahugana, ABVP's Delhi state secretary, told IANS.

Similarly, the left wing All India Students Association (AISA) and the Delhi University Teachers Association were against the programme. A 'Save DU' campaign against the FYUP has also been running since last year and garnering support.

"We will be protesting against the structure again June 10. Our protest have been very regular, we do not want students to become victim to such an academically weak programme," Abha Dev of Save DU campaign told IANS.

With media reports suggesting that Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani was keen on rolling back the FYUP, the protests have intensified.