Already under heavy criticism for introducing popular author Chetan Bhagat's "Five Point Someone," the Delhi University (DU) may soon introduce course material that will teach its English literature students "how to write Facebook posts!"
The DU has been weathering an unnecessarily high number of controversies — of all hues and manners — in recent time. Last month, one of its women's hotels had come under fire for telling its residents to not go out to play Holi!
More recently, the varsity is being ridiculed for introducing Chetan Bhagat's debut novel in its updated curriculum. "Five Point Someone" was loosely adapted to the Rajkumar Hirani-directed Aamir Khan-starrer blockbuster 3 Idiots, but Bhagat is generally considered a popcorn writer whose works rarely — if ever — have literary value.
Another of his novels, "Half Girlfriend," is set to hit the screens on May 19 in film form. The film has the same name and stars Arjun Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor.
'Generic but important content'
Amid the controversy surrounding the inclusion of Bhagat's novel in the curriculum comes the news that the DU might include the topic of "how to write a Facebook post" for English literature students.
A senior official from the English department of DU has been quoted by PTI as saying: "Writing does not necessarily mean writing heavyweight non-fiction books or highly dramatised fiction. It also includes writing generic but important content properly, such as that for blog posts, cover letters or for that matter Facebook posts."
She added: "The proposed components will be part of the Skill Enhancement Courses (SEC). The final framework will be decided after receiving feedback from colleges, the deadline for which is May 1. The approved draft will then be placed before the Academic and Executive Council for the final nod."
In the proposal phase
The inclusion of this course material has not actually happened so far in the DU English literature course. It has been recommended by a committee on the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) to be included in the "academic" writing section of the course.
As of now, the DU has sent the proposal for review and feedback to all colleges under it that teach English honours course in literature.
