In a bid to bring uniformity across semesters, the Delhi University has announced that classes for all programmes will begin on August 16. The coronavirus pandemic had disturbed the academic calendar at the varsity which resulted in a break of few days or no break across colleges. It had also impacted the uniformity of semesters as classes for different years were starting at different times. Teachers had also been demanding one-month compulsory break as “continuous working was impacting their mental health”, the varsity said.

In a notification issued on Wednesday, the Delhi University (DU) said it has amended previous notifications to give effect to a uniform academic calendar.

It said summer vacation for semester I and II will begin on April 29 and August 15, respectively, while for semesters III and IV, the vacation started from May 30 to August 15. The summer vacation for V, VI, VII and VIII semesters started on May 27, and the classes will start on August 16. Teachers have appreciated the step, saying scattered semesters were causing issues for teachers as well as students.

“As we all know the scattered semesters were causing many issues in all colleges, both for students and teachers. The National Democratic Teachers' Front (NDTF) had been consistently raising the demand to undo this anomaly. The university has finally accepted the rationale and now all semesters will start from August 16. So July 21 to August 15 will be common summer break for all,” Luke Khanna said.

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