Ex-vice-chancellor’s flagship educational trip may be scrapped

With Prof. Dinesh Singh demitting office after completion of his term as vice-chancellor of the Delhi University last month, his flagship programme Gyanodaya Express, a biannual education trip, is likely to be scrapped due to paucity of funds.

Over 4,500 students have travelled across the country under the programme over last three years.

A source in the university told this newspaper that neither the UGC nor any other government agency had provided funds for the trips undertaken by the Gyanodaya Express.

“Prof. Singh, as the head of DU, had taken the decision to run the programme and he provided all the necessary assistance, including the finances. All five trips were successful only due to interest shown by Prof. Singh,” he added.

After Prof. Singh demitted office, university officials are not showing any interest in running the educational train journey. “To run the Gyanodaya Express, the university requires around '2 crore and the current administration is going through the rule book saying that there is no separate fund for the purpose. Without money, it is impossible to manage the educational trip which benefited around 5,000 students,” a DU official said.

A DU student, who was part of Gyanodaya Exp-ress to visit the Nort-heast, said that the education trip provided him an opportunity to know about the people in that part of India.

“During the trip, I personally met lot of local people and made a few friends. I came to know about the society and culture in the Northeast and it could not have been possible without the educational trip. Scrapping of Gyanodaya Express is not in interest of the students,” he added.

In 2012, the V-C introduced his ambitious project the Gyanodaya Express to provide a learning opportunity and a platform for students to interact with the rest of country during the train journey.