India, Aug. 2 -- A Delhi University (DU) notification, dated July 31, has advised all colleges and institutions to function from 8am to 8pm in order to "optimally utilise available resources". The advisory follows a meeting of the university's executive council on July 12 and comes as DU began its new academic session on Friday, welcoming the first batch of undergraduate fourth-year students under the new curriculum structure.

Over the past several months, teachers have raised repeated concerns about the lack of infrastructure to accommodate an additional academic year.

"In order to achieve this and to ensure availability of faculty and staff during the period, the deployment of faculty and staff be staggered," the notification stated. ...