City-based degree colleges have been asked to advance the date for commencement of classes from October 21 to October 12. However, a week before the commencement of classes, many colleges are yet to get the syllabus that has been chalked out as per the National Education Policy (NEP).
On Tuesday, Bengaluru City University sent a circular to all its affiliated colleges that UG classes for the first, third and fifth semesters should commence on October 12. While third and fifth semester students will follow the old syllabus, the syllabus for the 1st semester students will be as per NEP. The Board of Studies of the respective faculties is in the process of finalising the syllabus.
But lecturers are worried that they do not have adequate time to acquaint themselves with the new syllabus. A senior official of a government degree college in the city said that the lecturers were anxious about how to teach as per the new syllabus. “What is making matters worse is that they have not even got the copy of the syllabus before the commencement of classes,” the official said.
A student who was enrolled in a private degree college for the Bachelors in Arts programme said, “We are glad that the NEP is bringing about reforms in the education sector and is making it more student-friendly. However, we wanted the lecturers to be trained and familiarised with the syllabus before our classes. There is already a significant delay in the academic year and we do not want to have classes where teachers are not aware of the changes.”
A lecturer of a popular college said that a little bit of planning, and conducting workshops before classes began would have helped them gain confidence in conducting classes.
Lingaraja Gandhi, Vice-Chancellor, Bengaluru City University, said the varsity would publish the syllabus shortly on their website. “We also plan to have a one-week induction programme for lecturers from October 13 and all of them will be trained on how to teach as per the new syllabus, keeping in mind the principles of NEP,” he said.
