The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Students taking correspondence courses yet to receive study material

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Saturday, Mar 22, 2008
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Students taking correspondence courses yet to receive study material

Chitra V. Ramani

Bangalore: Certain irregularities reported in Bangalore University’s Directorate of Correspondence Courses (DCC) last year has affected scores of students. Students who have enrolled in various courses at the DCC are yet to receive study material, though the admission process was completed in November 2007.

Students, on condition of anonymity, told The Hindu that the academic year started late, and to top it all, the study materials have not reached them yet. “There were a few people who advised me not to enrol with Bangalore University.

I realised that I had made a mistake only after I saw the sub-standard quality of the study material. This year, I am yet to receive the study material,” said a second-year B.A. student.

He added that there were several students belonging to economically weaker sections, who were forced to make do with the study material of the university.

“We can afford to buy guides and attend tuitions. However, what will poor students do?” he said.

‘DCC lethargic’

N.M. Poovaiah, president of Bangalore University DCC Study Centres’ Association, said that the DCC issued the study material on February 18.

“We, at the study centres, go out of the way to secure the study material.

The university’s DCC is very lethargic and is not bothered to serve the students. The students are also not happy with the quality of content of the books. Compared to that of other universities, the DCC’s study material is sub-standard,” he said. He squarely placed the blame for the situation on the “on-going fight within the university”. He said that the Syndicate members were indulging in “politics”. “There are a lot of problems in the university. One cannot expect the university to provide the students with good service because of all these problems.”

However, K.N. Mahendra, Director of the DCC, maintained that 90 per cent of the study material had been despatched to the students. “There may be a few stray cases of students not receiving them,” he said. “We are taking steps to ensure that all students get the material in a week’s time. This year, we began the academic work late and as a result printing of the study material also got delayed.”

About the quality of content, Dr. Mahendra said that the DCC would soon revise the material of a few courses.

“We have already started work in that direction. We are firm on bettering the services offered to students from our side.”

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