A day after it was claimed by a teachers’ body that Delhi University had reportedly procured and distributed over 62,000 laptops to the students for its ambitious four-year undergraduate course (FYUP) from funds meant for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), a grant that was issued by the University Grants Commission, several academicians have come out in support of the initiative.
In a press statement issued earlier this week, the Democratic Teachers’ Federation (DTF) had claimed that 62,600 laptops were purchased using the money that came to DU in 2008 under a tagged grant exclusively meant for expansion of physical infrastructure in colleges and departments to cater to the increased student intake following OBC reservations.
The claims were made on the basis of two Right to Information petitions filed by Delhi University Students’ Union joint-secretary Raju Rawat and Academic Council member Amitabh Chakravarty.
The DTF had alleged that “the diversion amounts to misappropriation which reveals the basis of the infrastructure problem plaguing the colleges and Departments since the introduction of the FYUP”.
Trashing these claims, Registrar Alka Sharma noted that the information being disseminated by the DTF was incorrect and a mischievous attempt to bring down the University.
Thereafter, a delegation of over a dozen academics associated with DU met Vice-Chancellor Dinesh Singh on Tuesday and demanded that laptops and other IT devices be made available to students as well as teachers in future years as well.
“Distribution of laptops to DU students is a landmark step towards bridging the gap between dissemination of knowledge and its assimilation, especially when most students in the majority of DU colleges come from underprivileged, semi-urban, rural and middle or lower middle class. We strongly demand the continuance of this tradition started by DU in the coming years also, as laptops, classroom projectors and other related IT devices are game-changers in the teaching learning process,” the academics said in a statement.
Those who were part of the representation included Executive Council member Aditya Narayan Misra; DUTA outgoing secretary S.D. Siddiqui; DUTA joint-secretary Anita Gosh; former DUTA secretary Vinay Kumar Singh; and DU Academic Council members Anil Jha and A.M. Khan.
