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JNU students boycott emd-semester exams
New Delhi:
New Delhi:
For the first time in the history of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), which was established in 1969, students boycotted the end-semester examinations that began Thursday as a part of their ongoing agitation.
Out of 13 schools and seven special centres in the varsity, exams were conducted in only three schools: School of Engineering, School of Sanskrit and Indic Studies, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee School of Management and Entrepreneurship.
JNU students have been protesting against the hostel fee hike and the new manual for over 45 days now.
The administration, however, expressed “appreciation” over conduct of exams in “several” schools and Centres. “It was unanimously agreed in the meeting with deans and chairpersons that the end-semester examinations must be completed as per the academic calendar of the university. It is expected that faculty members of all Schools and Centres should conduct the examinations as per the schedule,” registrar Pramod Kumar said.
A second-year student from the School of Engineering, requesting anonymity, said most students were supporting the movement against the fee hike but they wanted to give their exams. “Our dean called a group of students and pressured that students would have to appear for their papers. Besides, one should understand that a lot of our students are below 20 years of age. They want to appear for their papers and go home.” The practicals in the department started last week.
Refuting allegations of intimidation, dean RK Agrawal said, “Students cannot be pressured into giving their papers. Those who wanted to appear for their exams, did.”
The campus’ administrative block, which was earlier teeming with students, was deserted on Thursday as most students had parked themselves in school areas to ensure the boycott. Groups of students could be spotted studying in different parts of campus or playing cricket and volleyball.
“Barricades from around the campus were put outside the gates of Schools and mattresses were laid out by protesting students who sat there reading or conducting discussions. Maximum students wanted to boycott the papers but a few were also intimidated by the administration,” said Kaifi Ansari, a postgraduate student, who also boycotted her exams.
“School of International Studies (SIS) was under complete lockdown. Some professors went with students to conduct the exams but they were prevented from doing so,” said Aswini K Mohapatra, professor at SIS.
Requesting anonymity, an official from the School of Biotechnology said students had come to appear for their papers. They were, however, stopped by protesting students.
Vice-chancellor Jagadesh Kumar, the registrar, three Rectors held meetings with 18 hostel presidents and five presidential candidates on Thursday over the lockdown. “They tried to convince us how the service and utility charges are justified. We demanded a complete rollback of the new hostel manual and a fresh Inter Hall Administration meeting to be held in a democratic manner,” the hostel presidents said in a statement. The IHA is a body which manages 18 hostels on the campus.
JNU students’ union members said they asked the administration to hold meeting JNUSU office bearers instead of presidential candidates. “V-C kept repeating that we should call off the strike but we told him that is not possible till a complete rollback is ensured. We have submitted a letter stating that the administration should meet elected students’ representatives for matters concerning students since the elections were conducted in a fair manner,” said JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, who was present for the meeting. The administration has not notified the current students’ union.
Another presidential candidate Priyanka Bharti said the administration was aggressive in asking students to call off their strike. “We were told that the lockdown of administrative block was causing a lot of problems. We asserted that the administration had to think about the marginalised students who would be pushed out because of the hostel fee hike,” she said.
