DU teachers petition HRD to make Hindi compulsory

Concerned over the declining number of students opting for Hindi in Delhi University (DU), a section of teachers have petitioned the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry to make the language compulsory again.

The petition, floated by Ravi Sharma – assistant professor of language at Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), has been signed by over 100 teachers and sent to the Prime Minister's Office as well as to President Pranab Mukherjee, who is also the Visitor of the university.

While studying the subject was compulsory in DU colleges in form of either a credit course or a qualifying course, the students have an option of not pursuing it after the Choice-Based Credit System (CBCS) was rolled out this session.

The CBCS implementation offers students a choice between Modern Indian Languages (MIL), which include Hindi and English, as part of the Ability Enhancement Course (AEC). According to UGC structure, AEC has two subjects Environmental Science and MIL/English.