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The administration of the University of Delhi (DU) has been mulling over declaring Saturdays off for first-year students from the new academic session 2019-20. 

The decision comes in the wake of a petition filed by Simple Wasan, a student of Daulat Ram College. Wasan sought the High Court’s justice in the face of the rampant college routine from Monday to Saturday. The petition further voiced various other issues: safety of students, library hours at colleges, subsidised canteen food at the same rate for faculty and students alike, etc. These key issues aimed at creating a more “holistic environment of learning” for the students, as Wasan mentions in her open letter to the Vice Chancellor. The letter has gone viral through Wasan’s Instagram story-series. 

Owing to the massive support the petition has received, the authorities have been considering the suggestion seriously. As the authorities overview and analyse the costs and benefits of this decision, to-be-first-years can expect a path-breaking decision in their favour.

Even if it sounds thrilling at first, college can be extremely taxing for the first-year students, freshly coming out of the promising comforts of school system. The DU administration might have finally come up with a resolution to this everlasting six-day fatigue of its students.  Reportedly, Saturdays could be off for the to-be-first-year students of the Varsity in the coming academic year. 

In the letter published on Wasan’s Facebook profile, Ram Manohar, a student of St. Stephen’s College has commented, “This is an essential movement against mediocrity, that settles in students owing to the relentless academic pressure.” The active supporters have also demanded establishing suggestion boxes in every college for the students, so that they can address their otherwise hesitant concerns to the authorities. “Naturally no one wants to win some professor’s spite, and hence most of us refrain from actually vocalising our issues in front of the faculty,” wrote Manohar. 

“With only one day available in a week to catch up and clear the backlog, Sundays are not enough for college students,” said Naveen Kumar, a student of Ramjas College pursuing his final year of B.A. (Hons.) Sanskrit. 

The decision has invited a mixed reaction from the teaching fraternity; what happens next remains, of course, to be seen.

Disclaimer: Bazinga is our weekly column of almost believable fake news. It is only to be appreciated and not accepted!

Feature Image Credits: Namrata Randhawa for DU Beat

Kartik Chauhan 

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