Delhi University panel wants sexuality, caste, religion dropped from syllabus

Delhi University’s (DU) standing committee on academic affairs has sent back the psychology department’s syllabus for revisions, recommending the removal of topics including sexual orientation, caste, religious identity, and an entire elective paper titled “Psychology of Sexuality,” two officials familiar with the matter said on Monday.

The Department of Psychology held discussions on Monday to deliberate on the recommendations and was instructed to submit a revised syllabus by the evening. The proposed changes are part of DU’s overhaul of its undergraduate fourth-year curriculum under the National Education Policy framework.

Among the committee’s key suggestions was that the elective paper “Psychology of Peace” be completely rewritten to include Indian epics. “The paper on ‘Psychology of Peace’ has to be revamped with examples from the Mahabharata on mediation and negotiation,” an official said. Another controversial directive advised the department to remove all references to “Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Kashmir” from its curriculum.

HT had reported on Saturday that the committee, in its Friday meeting, had objected to sections of the psychology syllabus that discussed conflict zones like Israel-Palestine, Kashmir, and India’s North-East. Instead, it suggested students study the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita to explore concepts of peace and conflict resolution.

To be sure, while the standing committee’s recommendations are not binding, they carry significant weight. The final decision will rest with the university’s academic council, which is set to meet on May 10.

The syllabus review comes ahead of the implementation of DU’s four-year undergraduate programme for its first batch of fourth-year students. The psychology department is among several — including English, biochemistry, Persian, Urdu, and philosophy — whose syllabi were returned for revision. The standing committee is expected to meet again Tuesday to review content from at least 20 additional departments.

The elective “Psychology of Sexuality,” according to the department’s original proposal reviewed by HT, was designed to “orient students to the concept of sexuality, explore the impact of media and social representations on individual sexual expressions, critically evaluate societal stances on sexuality, and introduce psychological concepts of sexual distress and sexual well-being.”

Another person familiar with the standing committee’s recommendations said another paper, “Relationship Science,” has also been flagged for revision. “We’ve been asked to replace content on nuclear and alternative families with discussions of joint families, and to include more Indian family system literature. The section on dating apps and modern love must be re-examined,” the person said.

In another recommendation, the committee reportedly asked the department to remove references to caste and religious identity in the paper “Understanding Diversity,” advising that only linguistic and cultural diversity be discussed.

A faculty member from the psychology department, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “We are being asked to eliminate topics on discrimination and minorities, even though these are pressing realities for many students and communities. How can psychology ignore negative experiences when it is fundamentally the study of human behaviour?”

The faculty member added that several teachers have already raised concerns about the recommendations, questioning the rationale behind the proposed deletions. “We hope to take up our concerns further in the academic council meeting as well, which is scheduled to meet on May 10,” the official said.

Among the broader recommendations made by the committee is the removal of all Western examples and contexts from the syllabus. Instead, it urged the inclusion of Indian traditions and narratives, including examples and characters from the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Buddhism, and Jainism to support psychological theories and constructs.