Delhi University: Student groups protest at Arts Faculty against fee hike, FYUP

NEW DELHI: Members of All India Students' Association (AISA) and Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS) staged a protest outside the Delhi University's Arts Faculty on Wednesday against the proposed fee hike and the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP). The protesters from left-affiliated groups demanded the university to review the Four Year Undergraduate Programme, alleging that it dilutes core subjects and increases the financial burden on students. The students raised slogans holding placards that read, 'Resist fee hike in the name of rationalisation fee structure', 'Defer and review FYUP and 'Rollback FYUP'. The protest came in the backdrop of the academic council's meeting to discuss the Under Graduate Curriculum Framework (UGCF) for the first semester of FYUP.

"We reject the hurried exercise by Delhi University to dilute degrees, job loss for teachers, passing the syllabi only for the first semester papers," an AISA activist said.

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"AISA demands that the VC should uphold the public nature of the university, and withdraw the implementation of exclusionary policies like the NEP and FYUP, which serve as nothing more than systematic barriers meant to exclude those from among the most marginalised and deprived sections of society and further the agenda of exclusion," a statement from AISA said.

The university plans to implement the new curriculum from the academic year 2022-23 itself. As many as 100 undergraduate course syllabi will come up for discussion during the DU academic council meeting on Wednesday. Delhi University had previously implemented the FYUP in 2013, but it got scrapped by the Union government then. The university has decided to raise fees for undergraduate courses from the academic session 2022-23. The fee will be revised under new heads such as revising university facilities and economically weaker section (EWS) assistance fund along with some other components.