A teachers’ body has flagged infrastructure deficiencies, particularly in lab-intensive science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) departments, and a shortage of teaching staff at the University of Delhi amid a sharp rise in student enrolment following the launch of the first batch of its one-year postgraduate programmes.
“The number of seats allotted to one year PG in every department constitute a significant addition on account of which the total number of students has increased phenomenally. In departments such as sciences, geography, geology, etc., the per unit load on instruments such as microscopes, testing equipment, etc., has increased manifolds. The one-year master’s programmes are being offered only through university departments. The one-year postgraduate students also attend several classes alongside second-year students enrolled in the two-year master’s programmes, a move that has drawn criticism from sections of the teaching and student communities. “In the last week of July, we sanctioned funds to various departments to upgrade infrastructure and cater to the needs of one-year postgraduate students.
The students have to either wait for a long time for their turn or simply witness the experiment rather than doing it,” the email dated September 3 stated. The university recently launched its one-year postgraduate programme for the 2026-27 academic session for the first batch of students graduating from the four-year Undergraduate Programme (2022-26) under the Undergraduate Curriculum Framework (UGCF) 2022. For science, computer-related and non-science programmes, funds of ₹ 30,000, ₹ 15,000 and ₹ 10,000 per student, respectively, have been allocated,” Gupta said.
“The programme was introduced without granting any additional teaching posts,” it added. “We have sufficient teaching staff, including guest faculty, and felt that the existing faculty strength was adequate to meet the requirements of the one-year batch,” he added. In an email to the university’s vice-chancellor on Thursday, the Indian National Teachers’ Congress (INTEC) sought additional laboratory equipment and teaching posts, warning that the increase in student strength could put further strain on existing resources.
