Stop choking creative education at College of Art, Delhi University
The Issue
PETITION: Stop Choking Creative Education at College of Art, Delhi University
To: The Directorate of Training and Technical Education (DTTE), GNCTD & The Vice-Chancellor, University of Delhi
College of Art, New Delhi, is running an elite fine arts institution like a bureaucratic office. A strict 9:30 AM biometric cut-off bars students from attendance, while security forces a blanket campus evacuation at 5:30 PM.
Treating art education like a 9-to-5 desk job ignores the physical, practical realities of studio work.
Core Facts & Structural Failures
* Zero Material/Book Stores on Campus: The college lacks an on-site art supply or reference store. Students must travel across the city during business hours to procure specialized archival papers, pigments, canvas rolls, and sculpting mediums. Punishing them for late morning arrivals ignores the fact that they must source their own materials to work.
* No Functional Photography Lab: Students—especially in Applied Art and Visual Communication—must leave campus during daylight hours for shoots, field documentation, and darkroom processing. Punishing off-campus movement directly sabotages practical project requirements.
* Broken Workflows at 5:30 PM: Fine art mediums (oil drying rates, clay moisture, plaster curing, lithography press runs) require uninterrupted blocks of time. Forcing students out at 5:30 PM damages materials and ruins days of labor. Most students lack personal home studios, large-format easels, kilns, or presses.
* Flawed Surveillance vs. Mentorship: Art cannot be tracked on a biometric scanner. The authentic measure of student presence is direct engagement in the studio with teachers and studio in-charges, not a morning fingerprint scan.
Comparison: Fine Arts Norms vs. College of Art
| Institution / Facility | Studio & Facility Hours | Attendance Model |
|---|---|---|
| Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU Baroda | Extended evening/night studio access | Studio/mentor-led evaluation |
| National Institute of Design (NID) | Late-night access to labs and design workshops | Project deliverables & continuous review |
| DU Central Library System | Open until 8:00 AM – 10:00 PM | Facility access prioritized for research |
| College of Art, DU (Current) | Locked strictly at 5:30 PM | 9:30 AM rigid biometric lock-out |
What We Demand
* Abolish the 9:30 AM Biometric Lockout: Return attendance authority to Studio In-Charges and Department Faculty via physical roll-call registers based on actual studio presence.
* Extend Studio Access Until 8:30 PM: Keep practical studios open into the evening with a transparent entry/exit register at the security gate to support advanced coursework and jury prep.
* Institutional Support for Practicals: Account for the lack of on-campus material stores and photo facilities by allowing flexible field hours for sourcing and production.
Sign and share this petition to demand that College of Art functions as a living studio space, not a clock-punching office.
5
The Issue
PETITION: Stop Choking Creative Education at College of Art, Delhi University
To: The Directorate of Training and Technical Education (DTTE), GNCTD & The Vice-Chancellor, University of Delhi
College of Art, New Delhi, is running an elite fine arts institution like a bureaucratic office. A strict 9:30 AM biometric cut-off bars students from attendance, while security forces a blanket campus evacuation at 5:30 PM.
Treating art education like a 9-to-5 desk job ignores the physical, practical realities of studio work.
Core Facts & Structural Failures
* Zero Material/Book Stores on Campus: The college lacks an on-site art supply or reference store. Students must travel across the city during business hours to procure specialized archival papers, pigments, canvas rolls, and sculpting mediums. Punishing them for late morning arrivals ignores the fact that they must source their own materials to work.
* No Functional Photography Lab: Students—especially in Applied Art and Visual Communication—must leave campus during daylight hours for shoots, field documentation, and darkroom processing. Punishing off-campus movement directly sabotages practical project requirements.
* Broken Workflows at 5:30 PM: Fine art mediums (oil drying rates, clay moisture, plaster curing, lithography press runs) require uninterrupted blocks of time. Forcing students out at 5:30 PM damages materials and ruins days of labor. Most students lack personal home studios, large-format easels, kilns, or presses.
* Flawed Surveillance vs. Mentorship: Art cannot be tracked on a biometric scanner. The authentic measure of student presence is direct engagement in the studio with teachers and studio in-charges, not a morning fingerprint scan.
Comparison: Fine Arts Norms vs. College of Art
| Institution / Facility | Studio & Facility Hours | Attendance Model |
|---|---|---|
| Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU Baroda | Extended evening/night studio access | Studio/mentor-led evaluation |
| National Institute of Design (NID) | Late-night access to labs and design workshops | Project deliverables & continuous review |
| DU Central Library System | Open until 8:00 AM – 10:00 PM | Facility access prioritized for research |
| College of Art, DU (Current) | Locked strictly at 5:30 PM | 9:30 AM rigid biometric lock-out |
What We Demand
* Abolish the 9:30 AM Biometric Lockout: Return attendance authority to Studio In-Charges and Department Faculty via physical roll-call registers based on actual studio presence.
* Extend Studio Access Until 8:30 PM: Keep practical studios open into the evening with a transparent entry/exit register at the security gate to support advanced coursework and jury prep.
* Institutional Support for Practicals: Account for the lack of on-campus material stores and photo facilities by allowing flexible field hours for sourcing and production.
Sign and share this petition to demand that College of Art functions as a living studio space, not a clock-punching office.
The Decision Makers
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on 8 September 2026