“I am not sure of its’ future benefits but right now, it is definitely causing chaos.”
says Urvi Malik, a first year student from Hindu College, when asked about the now infamous, Choice Based Credit System (CBCS).
Certainly, this is not her opinion alone. According to a survey conducted by All India Student’s Association (AISA), her views are similar to that of the other 93% students who are equally disappointed by the recently introduced CBCS.
The survey, that received inputs from 24,780 students from across 38 DU colleges, further reports that the students are not provided with the choices as outlined by UGC. Also, with the reduction of honours papers from 18-20 to 14, students feel that their programmes have lost value under the new academic structure.
The official statement released post the survey suggests that while 87% of students complain of lack of clarity regarding textbooks in the General Elective course, almost 92% of the students believe that CBCS will inflate marks but degrade the quality of assessment. AISA’s survey, the results of which clearly conclude the failure of the system, comes after a referendum conducted by the Student’s Federation of India (SFI) earlier this month, that also delivered similar results. Conducted across 18 colleges of the university, including major campus colleges like Ramjas College and Kirori Mal College, it reported the rejection of the system by 91.89% of students.
CBCS is being criticised by students and teachers alike.
What was introduced by UGC with a promise to allow seamless mobility across higher education institutes with a transfer of credits, has led to immense confusion and hence disappointment within months of its implementation. With its associated risk of eroding both the autonomy of the universities and the value of their degrees, CBCS is being criticised by students’ groups and teachers’ bodies alike. Daniya Suhail, a first year student from IPCW, with evident signs of frustration, says they have been treated as guinea pigs for a system that was not well thought of. Interestingly, no batches of the current lot in the university share the same academic pattern. While the first year is subjected to CBCS, it is the semester system for the second year and the FYUP for the third. Hence, in a peculiar situation, one may conclude that CBCS is another one of those experiments that the varsity is trying, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise if CBCS meets the same fate as its’ predecessor FYUP.