DU colleges ask teachers to attend Centre’s event on Partition
Sculptures at Delhi’s Partition Museum.
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
Days after the Ministry of Culture invited Delhi University to participate in the “Partition Horrors Remembrance Day” programme on August 14, the university has asked colleges to send 20 teachers each to the event. A few departments have made teachers’ participation mandatory, prompting some academics to question the move.
The invite by the Ministry, dated August 9, stated that the event, scheduled at Bharat Mandapam, aims to “recollect the horrors of Partition and to create a unanimous feeling among our countrymen that such horrific events may not be repeated”. Home Minister Amit Shah will chair the event.
The note requested the participation of the university’s teachers and students, “especially those studying in postgraduate research courses and those in the second and third years of undergraduate courses,” to ensure “that the message of this event is disseminated among the youth”.
A DU professor who did not want to be named said, “At first, they (the administration) asked us to register as many students as possible. Then, they asked teachers to participate. There is pressure on colleges to send a certain number of professors, so some departments have made it mandatory.”
“It is arbitrary to force teachers to participate. Participation in such events should be voluntary. Besides, we do not know what the content of the programme is. It might perpetuate communal ideas, and we do not want our students to be a part of it,” the professor added.
DU history professor Maya John termed the call for the participation of the university’s students and teachers in the programme a “diktat”.
“It is important to ask what kind of documentation has taken place and whether there are trained oral historians working on it,” she said. Ms. John added that the event was “conceptualised to show popular communal accounts while ignoring the efforts at maintaining peace and solidarity”.
When reached for comment, Delhi University did not respond. However, a university official said, “Whenever the Central government organises any such programme, we are asked to participate and send a number of teachers accordingly. We then reach out to colleges. There should be no issue as they (teachers) can participate and explore academic opportunities.”
The annual programme, first observed in 2021, commemorates the violence people suffered during the Partition.
The University Grants Commission also issued a notice on August 7, saying the National School of Drama has curated a play on the theme. It asked higher educational institutions to “spread awareness” about the play.
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