Yogesh Singh on Friday took over the charge as the Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University (DU). He said that meeting all stakeholders and understanding the pressing issues facing the university will be his priority. He also said that he will hold discussions with teachers and principals to see whether any changes need to be made to the cut-off system followed by DU for admissions.
Singh, who is DU’s 23rd VC, succeeds Yogesh Tyagi, who was suspended last October over allegations of irregularities and dereliction of duty. Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal had on Wednesday approved relieving of Singh as Delhi Technological University VC to enable him to take charge of the new job.
Speaking to reporters, Singh said, “The vice-chancellor is not for a particular section but for everyone. The post has a lot of dignity attached to it.” Asked what his priorities will be as the new VC, he said he will meet all stakeholders and understand the pressing issues facing the university.
On DU facing criticism over its sky-high cut-offs for admissions to various undergraduate courses, Singh said, “I want to understand the cut-off system. In Delhi Technological University, admissions were done through JEE, while in the East Delhi campus of the university, we had started admitting students on the basis of merit for economics and management courses.”
“In Indraprastha University, where I had served as the director, admissions have always been done through an entrance test. I will discuss with the heads of departments, deans and principals, then form an opinion and see whether any changes are needed,” he said.
Asked about his views on DU’s student and teacher activism, something which was not there in universities where he served earlier, Singh said, “Every university has a culture and I will respect that. Like every human being, every institute has a soul. We should respect that and we will respect that.”
Responding to a question on principals of various colleges flagging the low student-teacher ratio in the university in the wake of more students being enrolled in certain courses than the total number of seats, Singh said deans of departments where there are vacancies for teachers need to play a more proactive role in the recruitment process.
“The University Grants Commission has prescribed a certain student-teacher ratio… In my view, recruitment should not be a one-time thing and should be a regular process. It will not be one-time activity and will happen for the next five years. You can check my track record. Wherever I have been, I have been involved in recruitment,” he said.
The deans of departments where there are vacancies also need to play a proactive role. If they sleep on it, the administration won’t be able to do anything, he said, adding that the university has already advertised vacancies for 251 posts. On plans to reopen the university for students, Singh said, “We will open the campus but slowly. We don’t want to open it in a hurry and risk the lives of students. The places that we can open, we will open. The university also doesn’t seem like a university without students, but we want to proceed slowly.” Different teachers’ bodies welcomed the new VC.
The RSS-affiliated National Democratic Teachers’ Front said, ”NDTF is hoping that under his (Singh’s) leadership, University of Delhi will attain new academic standards in the field of higher education and innovative research.” ”NDTF expects him to strengthen democratic and participatory functioning of the university with the full involvement of its stakeholders,” it said in a statement. The Aam Aadmi Party’s teachers’ wing, Delhi Teachers’ Association (DTA), also welcomed Singh. The DTA said that it hoped that the long-standing demands and issues of students and teachers will be addressed by Singh.
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