IISc, IIT & ISI Faculty Members Urge UGC to Withdraw Draft Mathematics Curriculum 2025

More than 900 teachers have signed a petition claiming that the proposed B.A./B.Sc. mathematics curriculum weakens core subjects, contains errors, and is irrelevant.

IISc, IIT, ISI Professors Urge UGC

More than 900 mathematicians, researchers, and students have petitioned the University Grants Commission (UGC) to withdraw the draft undergraduate mathematics curriculum for 2025. Signatories include M.S. Raghunathan (Centre of Excellence in Basic Sciences), Srikrishna G. Dani (UM-DAE), Rajendra Bhatia (Ashoka University), Sujatha Ramdorai (University of British Columbia), and faculty members from IISc, IITs, ISI, and TIFR, who have described the draft as "riddled with serious flaws."

The petition states that essential topics such as real analysis, algebra, and linear algebra are not adequately covered, while obsolete topics such as analytical geometry and mechanics are given prominence. Applied areas such as programming, numerical methods, statistics, machine learning and AI are approached superficially and without the practical or application-based approach expected in modern education.

It also points out "serious flaws," including references to non-existent textbooks, and criticizes optional subjects such as Mathematics in Music and Mathematics in Meditation, calling them unsuitable for undergraduate studies. The signatories state that some optional subjects, such as Fourier Analysis and Markov Chains, require advanced knowledge, while they claim that they only require "Class 10 Mathematics," making them unrealistic for undergraduate students.

According to the petitioners, these flaws are particularly serious because students completing the four-year program will be eligible for NET and PhD, yet the draft does not prepare them for MSc or industry-level employment.

The petition warns, "The proposed curriculum does not prepare a student even for MSc, let alone PhD or industry-level employment," and urges the UGC to constitute a new expert panel to redesign the curriculum.

The petitioners further said, "A nation with a long tradition of excellence in mathematics deserves a better undergraduate curriculum."