A first in 30 years, Delhi University to miss opening date

NEW DELHI - A 30-year tradition will be broken when Delhi University (DU)does not begin classes July 16. Due to the implementation of semester system, the academic session begins five days later on July 21.

There was nothing specific related to DU opening June 16, but it had become a tradition and students used to look forward to the day.

“The change has come due to the introduction of the semester system from this year,” Gurpreet Singh Tuteja, deputy dean of Student’s Welfare, told IANS.

“The semester system is only for the science students as of now and the commerce and humanities students will follow the annual system. The classes will commence from July 21 for all the streams,” he said.

According to the varsity officials, the first semester will be from July to mid-November and second from January to May.

However, the change of dates doesn’t matter much for students, who are looking forward to joining classes next week.

“Although it has been a tradition at DU that the colleges always opened on July 16 but it does not matter to me,” said Navkeerat Kalra, a second year student at SGTB Khalsa college.

Talking on the same lines, Afsana Umer, a student of Ramjas College said: “I got to know about the change in dates through a friend and confirmed it from the student’s welfare office. I know it is happening for the first time in three decades, but how does it matter to me? I am anyway very excited to be a part of DU.”

Most students welcomed the semester system and said it should be implemented in other streams.

“The semester system is good for the students, and if the dates are being pushed back to accommodate it, then it is completely justified,” said Bhaskar Kumar Brahma, a second year student of Chemistry (Hons), SGBT Khalsa College.

“I guess the students will be happy to learn this as their holidays have been extended. Moreover, the semester should be introduced not only for science but for all the courses as soon as possible,” said Komal Bajaj, a student of Kalindi College.

About 143,224 students have applied for 54,000 undergraduate seats in the DU. Almost 5,000 seats have been added this year to keep up with the growing number of applicants.