These revisions were also approved by the Executive Council (EC) on June 9.
University of Delhi dropped the word Brahmanisation and tweaked other parts of the History syllabus for the fourth and fifth semesters.
As part of the curriculum review based on the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the University of Delhi (DU) recently implemented changes to the undergraduate programme in the History subject. These changes included some addition and removal to make sure that the students are taught holistic, inclusive and representative ideas instead of just ideologies.
On May 26th, the University of Delhi’s highest decision-making body, the Academic Council (AC), approved the revision of the History syllabus, for the fourth and fifth semesters of the new four-year undergraduate program. These revisions were also approved by the Executive Council (EC) on June 9th.
The director of DU’s South Campus and member of the Standing Committee on Academic Matters is Shri Prakash Singh. In an interview with The Indian Express, he said that the revisions have been made in alignment with the suggestion by NEP. He stated, “According to the university, these changes in the syllabus should occur every three years. The purpose is to ensure that what is being taught is holistic, inclusive, representative, and not ideologically loaded.”
There are some variations between the old and the new history syllabus for the fourth and fifth semesters. One of the changes is the elimination of the word Brahmanisation from the fourth-semester General Elective (GE) course called Religion and Religiosity, whose title has been now changed to Religious Traditions in the Indian Subcontinent. Earlier it included a topic called Approaches to Brahmanisation in the early medieval era. After the revision, the topic now talks about Shaiva, Shakta and Vaishnava instead and is called Approaches to Shaiva, Shakta, and Vaishnava in the early Medieval era. A course titled Inequality and Difference in the fourth semester has also been dropped as it delved into concepts of jati, varna, class, caste and gender and its evolution. It also offered a critical analysis of social justice and inequalities.
Similarly, from the fifth semester as well, the word Brahmanical has been dropped from the paper titled Women In Indian History. Previously, the topic was named Evolution of Patriarchy with a focus on Brahmanical Patriarchy. But, now, the revised topic is about the Evolution of Patriarchy in Early India.
Women in Indian History is part of the course and it will offer fresh perspectives on Matriarchy. Earlier it focused only on patriarchy. As reported by the news portal, the topic of matriarchy has been introduced to make students aware of other forms of society.
Reportedly, the reason behind the revision is that it is not something the University wanted as these terms cannot be used in historiographical research.
