Two months after classes commenced for undergraduate (UG) students using the new syllabi, the Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, has directed affiliated colleges to follow the old syllabi, thus creating unnecessary confusion.
The new directive has shocked the departmental heads and teaching staff of private and government colleges under the university.
They have been teaching subjects as per the new syllabi for the last two months. Now, the university has asked colleges to follow the old syllabi, thus creating a headache for college heads, sources said.
In a circular, sent to all affiliated colleges on Tuesday, August 13, the university Registrar (in-charge) Rupa Gunaseelan stated that the 2023-24 syllabi must be followed for the 2024-25 academic year in the affiliated colleges.
Sources say the meeting of the Board of Studies of the university was held in May. After that, its chairman and members verbally communicated that as per its decision, new syllabi should be followed in the 2024-25 academic year. However, the university did not issue a formal communication about the new syllabi.
A few faculties cited a few instances due to the change in the syllabi.
J Antony (name changed), an Assistant Professor, at a private arts and science college in Coimbatore city, told The New Indian Express, "In the last academic year, Allied Mathematic paper (Computer-Based Optimisation Technique) was in the third semester for second-year BSc Computer Science programme. As per the decision of the Board of Studies, this paper has been replaced with a paper on Embedded Systems in the current academic year. We had completed 40% of the portions of the former."
"The university has ordered us to follow the previous year's syllabi two months after we commenced teaching. This abrupt change is shocking. The valuable time of students and faculties has been lost because of this arbitrary action. Now, we have to teach Allied Mathematics to students again," Antony alleged.
An English faculty at the Government Arts and Science for Women, Puliyakulam, also said that students and teaching faculties suffer due to the sudden changes brought by the university.
"General English paper has to be taught to first-year students in the first semester. After the communication from the Board of Studies, some private colleges taught portions such as grammar, short stories, and so on after changing the book under the same paper title. As per the new book, we have now started teaching portions such as communication skills, poetry, and so on," she told The New Indian Express.
Former president of Tamil Nadu Government College Teachers' Association T Veeramani also said the departmental heads of different streams are irked by the change in syllabi. Condemning the abrupt change, Veeramani said he was baffled by the action of the university's authorities.
"This is poor administration. Due to their carelessness, academic work has been affected. Higher Education Minister KA Ponmudi should intervene in this matter and take action against those behind it," he noted.
When contacted, the chairman of the Board of Studies for an undergraduate programme in the university told The New Indian Express that they did not send any communication about following the new syllabi.
Bharathiar University convenor, higher education secretary Pradeep Yadav and university registrar Ruba Gunasekaran could not be reached for comments.
