DUTA accuses School of Open Learning of flouting rules

New Delhi: Delhi University Teacher's Association (DUTA) on Tuesday alleged violation of rules in the conduct of personal contact programmes by the varsity's School of Open Learning.

"There have been violation of administrative and financial regulations in the functioning of SOL. As per the rules, each student is supposed to attend at least 30 PCPs (personal contact programmes) per year, but the school has reduced them to 10 without taking any consent from the staff council," DUTA President Nandita Narain alleged.

The teachers body also alleged financial irregularities in SOL's functioning.

"The conduct of PCP at various centres used to cost anything between Rs 1 and 3 lakh per centre depending on the student enrolment excluding the payment to the resource persons. The new proposal offers more than Rs 8 lakh for the same which includes Rs 25000 per month to the principals, Rs 16000 to the observers. However, the university's rule does not allow this," Narain said in a statement.

"As per the Executive Council's resolution, the Principal/Professor is entitled to get Rs 5000 per month for any additional job besides the salary and the honorariums for Associate Professors and Assistant Professors are fixed at 3000 and 2500 per month respectively," she added.

Responding to the allegations SOL Director C S Dubey said, "The allegations are false and the number of classes have not been reduced. In fact where earlier we were able to provide PCPs to only 20 per cent students due to infrastructural issues, now we are providing PCPs to over 70 pc students."

"Also the payment to study centres has been increased because we plan to incorporate flipped classroom technology for our PCPs which will increase the infrastructural cost born by them and the decision was taken in the institute's governing body meeting," he said.

SOL, formerly known as School of Correspondence Courses and Continuing Education, is the distance education wing of Delhi University and enrolls over one lakh students every year. It offers undergraduate/postgraduate degree courses in Arts/Humanities and Commerce streams.

According to university records, around 4.5 lakh students are enrolled in various programmes offered by the SOL.