 "DU issues academic calendar for first semester; classes to begin from Nov 2")
The Delhi University (DU) issued an academic calendar for the first semester students on Wednesday announcing that the classes will begin on November 2 with a four-day break between the first and second semesters.
The first semester will start in November 2022 and end in March 2023 and the second semester will be from March to July.
Notably, the first semester will begin even before the third round of the admission process for undergraduate courses commences.
This year, the university is admitting students through Common University Entrance Test (CUET) scores instead of their Class 12 marks. On September 12, the university released its admission-cum-allocation policy -- Common Seat Allocation System (CSAS).
The first seat allocation list will be declared on October 18, the second will be announced on October 30 and the third list on November 10.
Teachers have held the "mindless imposition" of the CUET responsible for the situation. The varsity's officials did not respond to calls from PTI seeking a response.
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According to the academic calendar, the theory examination for first semester will be conducted from February 27 to March 15 while the theory examination for second semester will be held from July 17 to July 28.
The university has declared that preparation leave and practical examination for the first semester will begin from February 17 to 26 and that for the second semester from July 8 to 16.
The semester break, which usually lasts for 15 days, will be of four days only from March 16 to March 19 this academic year.
Democratic Teachers' Front Secretary and Miranda House Professor Abha Dev Habib deemed it an "extremely hopeless situation" for students and teachers.
"No vacations or mid-semester breaks for students to assimilate what is being taught! What a student should cover in 180 days spread over a year is being finished in nine months or so," she said.
"This tragedy is because of the mindless imposition of CUET. We could have tried to finish admissions in August or mid-September after the announcement of Class 12 results in July," she added.
Abha Dev also pointed out that 50 per cent or more admissions may happen after November 2.
"We are barely ending the second round of CSAS on November 3. Earlier, the academic session would start only after six or eight cut-off rounds," she noted.
Another DU teacher Rajesh Jha alleged that the messed-up semester is a deliberate attempt to divert students from public-funded institutes to private ones.
"It could have been easily avoided. What was the need to impose CUET in such a haste? It is a deliberate attempt to divert students from public-funded institutes," he said.
"Many parents got their children admitted to private institutes as the admission process at the university got delayed," he added.