Delhi
education Times, 21st July 2008
DESPITE the controversy surrounding the new maths'
syllabus, Delhi University has given its nod to start a
new mathematics syllabus from the next academic session.
Explaining the university's decision to introduce the new
syllabus, Pankaj Garg, maths faculty, Rajdhani College and
a member of the academic council, said, "During the
time of campus placements, many MNCs used to complain that
our maths students lack exposure to computers. The companies
were hesitant to train them internally. We have made the
new programme more application based and almost every paper
involves computer application."
The new restructured programme will be known as BSc (honours)
mathematics. Earlier the university used to offer BA (honours)
mathematics to students from a commerce and humanities background
and BSc (honours) mathematics to students from science background.
Elaborating on the reason behind integrating the two degrees,
Garg said, "Students who opted for BA (honours) mathematics
were at a loss because they were assessed from 1100 marks
whereas students pursuing BSc (mathematics) were assessed
from 900 marks besides 200 marks for subsidiary papers,
for which they required only a pass mark."
The new restructured syllabus will have 12 papers of mathematics
and three papers from disciplines other than mathematics
- one course each from credit course I, credit course II
and qualifying course. The marks of credit course I and
II shall count in the final result of the student.
In order to make the course more job-oriented, the university
has introduced a paper on financial management. "This
paper has specially been introduced keeping the industry
demands in mind. Students will be able to find jobs in the
field of actuarial science, banking and stock markets,"
said J Khuntia, member academic council and faculty, School
of Open Learning. "Students of Economics (honours)
were preferred by financial industry over Maths (honours)
students because the mathematics syllabus lacked computer
application. In the new syllabus, every paper will have
computer application. Use of computeraided software such
as Matlab, Mathematica, maple, MuPad, wxMaxima would be
encouraged," informed K K Aggarwal, lecturer, department
of operational research under the faculty of mathematical
sciences, DU.
"Overall the university has tried to maintain the core
mathematics subjects like Calculus, Analysis and Algebra
and tried to make the syllabus more application-oriented.
If some parts have been omitted, new papers have been introduced.
For example, there is a new paper on C++ programming and
numerical modelling," said Aggarwal.
The university's decision to omit a topic on Mechanics has
come under criticism by those opposing the new syllabus.
"It is an important topic that should have got a place
in the syllabus. Also there are no clear instructions mentioned
on the way the computer applications should be implemented.
Use of software is being mentioned in a vague manner,"
said S K Kaushik, mathematics professor at Kirori Mal College.
Apart from the course material, the manner in which the
university decided to introduce the syllabus has became
controversial. According to a letter sent to the ministry
of human resources development (MHRD) by a few college teachers,
who opposed the move, the university had "bypassed"
the required procedure before giving its nod to the new
syllabus.
Whatever be the controversy, colleges would have to gear
up to implement the new syllabus from next year. Kavita
Sharma, principal, Hindu College, said, "Academic infrastructure,
i.e., books, faculty and computer labs are required to implement
the new maths syllabus, and one year is good enough time
to prepare for it."
The university will also organise orientation programmes
for faculty members to familiarise them with the new curriculum
and computer application.
