‘Why Make DU Students, Teachers Take Exams in Scorching Heat Due to CUET Mess and Delay?’

In an open letter posted on his Facebook post, the author, who is Associate Professor, Department of English, Kirori Mal College, Delhi University as well as an Elected Member of DUTA Executive, 2023 - 25 from the Democratic Teachers Front, writes about the ordeal being faced by Semester II students and teachers, who have been forced to taking exams and invigilating in June, as the temperature soars in Delhi.

According to news reports, parts of Delhi on Wednesday, crossed 50 degrees Celsius. The weather department has extended heat wave warning till June 13. Amid all this, students and teachers of Delhi university have been going through the exam process in sweltering heat, only under fans and sometimes in the top floor classrooms, due to delayed exams following the CUET mess.

Reaad the full letter below:

Prof Yogesh Singh,

Honourable Vice Chancellor,

University of Delhi,

Subject: An Open Letter to the DU Vice Chancellor.

Respected Prof Singh,

I write this open letter to you as an ordinary stakeholder of the University of Delhi: in which you are the custodian for all academic and administrative matters. My relationship with the University of Delhi is more than thirty years old: first as a student and then as a teacher which is still ongoing. Three decades in my own Alma Mater have given me enough ground to write you this open letter at least to let you know about the consequences of your actions.

Sir, please find attached with this letter one of the many news reports of the last few days: apprising us of a heat wave sweeping the national capital in particular where the University of Delhi is located. And the students of semester 2 have to appear for their end-semester exams in this unbearable heat: only because the academic calendar of the first-year students has been compromised owing to the unmitigated mess in the name of CUET, leading to a late admission every year.

Please note that this is not happening for the first time: since you began your tenure as the Vice Chancellor, your insistence on joining the CUET bandwagon for admission in DU and to continue with the same despite the adverse outcomes has created this situation of perpetual chaos in the University. And the biggest victims of the obstinacy of your administration on the matter have been teachers and students for the last three years: they have to suffer in this scorching heat for no fault of theirs! 

Sir, I have a very humble request to you: please take out time from your busy schedule and invigilate during the afternoon exams in any of the colleges along with the other officials in your team, especially the Director, South Campus and the Dean of Colleges, who were appointed as teachers at least on paper before they became University officials.

Sir, please stay for three hours in a top floor room of any college in the University: especially the ones which do not have any AC and which become no less than a furnace during this heat wave! Why should the students who appear for their exams and the teachers who invigilate in this scorching heat have all the fun? Why cannot your administration partake in the glory which is there in having examination in the sweltering month of June?

Sir, it is very easy to formulate policies in AC rooms of the Viceregal Lodge and expect that the same can be implemented without any effort or investment on the same. However, the implementation of such policies happens at a heavy cost: borne by the hapless students and teachers who are made the guinea pigs and the scapegoats in the process.

Sir, will your administration take responsibility if any mishap occurs to any student or teacher for being coerced into this examination in this absolutely hostile weather where every day there are reports of casualties owing to heat stroke or any other health hazard? Do you think it is human to let students and teachers fend for themselves in this heat just to comply with the half-baked policies of the University administration? The teachers and the students of this University look forward to a satisfactory answer to these crucial questions.

Sir, by now you must be wondering why do I write such a long open letter to you? Let me give you a categorical answer: I CARE for my students, while the administration of this University DO NOT CARE an ounce for the students! I need to put the record straight here: my own child is not a student of this University and she has been lucky to escape this infernal experience of appearing for exams in this excruciating weather!

However, as a teacher of this University, I am responsible for every student of mine: each of them happens to be my child even if not biologically. When parents come to us for the admission of their children, they leave them with a firm hope that the well-being of their children will be taken care of by the teachers and the University administration through enabling provisions. Seldom they realise that their children will be forced to appear for their exams during the heat wave of June at the cost of their health only because the University administration led by the honourable Vice Chancellor has led to a situation where delayed admission is equivalent to delayed exams during the peak summer of Delhi.

Sir, my experience of three decades in the University of Delhi has taught me a hard reality: that students hardly remember the Vice Chancellors during their stint as a student in this University, but they definitely remember their teachers whom they meet every day in the class or in the college. That is precisely the reason why I have been forced to write this open letter to you: at least to carry my responsibility towards my students in the University since I am accountable to them and their parents. Believe me, if you do a random survey among students both present and past, 90% of them may not know the name of the VC in their time: however, that has never dissuaded the earlier Vice Chancellors of this University to adopt student-friendly policies to ease their life in the University.

Regrettably that is not the case in the last three years: where the students invariably have been subject to extreme hardship during the peak summer months when the end-semester exams are conducted: only because the University of Delhi led by your good self has decided to abdicate its own admission policy and to be part of the CUET which has been an embarrassment without exception every year.

Sir, I hope by now you realise the fundamental difference between you and me: while your administration is devoid of any human touch in formulating policies, I am a teacher first and foremost, for whom the well-being of the student is paramount, followed by all other considerations. It is also obvious that while I feel and care for my University, which has nourished and sustained me for more than three decades now, you consider your term as the Vice Chancellor merely as a stepping stone to further your career in future, having no sense of belonging to this University.

I hope and sincerely wish you prove me wrong: and immediately initiate corrective actions so that the students do not have to suffer in the near future. Otherwise, my apprehension will be proved correct: and you will be remembered by the students and the teachers of this University as a Vice Chancellor who NEVER CARED!!

I end this long open letter of mine with a fervent hope: that I am proved wrong and the students will be spared from this ordeal!

Thanking you,

Warm regards,

Your sincerely,

RUDRASHISH CHAKRABORTY

Associate Professor, Department of English, Kirori Mal College, DU. Elected Member, DUTA Executive, 2023 - 25.  A Proud Alumnus of the University of Delhi.