Asked why only Bengali and Tamil were offered as options among Indian languages, he said, “The university faculty will teach students — and we only have faculty for these two languages.”
Studying an Indian language and a foreign language will be compulsory in Delhi University’s newly approved School of Journalism. While students can choose between Chinese, French and Spanish in the foreign language section; among Indian languages, the choice is between Bengali or Tamil. The Delhi School of Journalism (DSJ), which opens from this academic session, offers a five-year integrated course where students will be given an MA degree at the end of the fifth year. The DSJ was approved in the executive council meet held on July 14.
The compulsory languages, which have to be studied in all 10 semesters, carry six credits each. As both languages are compulsory subjects, passing them will be necessary to get a degree. According to a senior university official, these particular languages have been made compulsory so that students have a “variety of options” later. “Knowing these languages will help students get work in regional and international media,” a senior university official reasoned.
Asked why only Bengali and Tamil were offered as options among Indian languages, he said, “The university faculty will teach students — and we only have faculty for these two languages.” In the long-term document plan for the school, the university mentions that more foreign and regional languages will be introduced subsequently, depending on the needs of the programme and the availability of instructors.
The DSJ will be a school under the Faculty of Social Sciences and admission will be done through an entrance test. It is a bilingual course and will be offered both in English and Hindi. A total of 60 students will be admitted to the school. The school had faced opposition earlier from teachers as it was supposed to start in a self-financing mode. Following protests, the university agreed not to do so.
