JNU clears email, WhatsApp exams; teachers’ body says dissent ignored

JNU registrar Pramod Kumar in a statement said the academic council took the decision after hearing all recommendations and will submit its response to the high court by Friday.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration on Thursday held an Academic Council (AC) meeting to approve both regular and alternative modes of examinations in a bid to complete the last semester.

Students of JNU protesting against fee hike outside All India Council For Technical Education during JNU convocation, upturn barricades in New Delhi in November 2019. (Biplov Bhuyan/HT PHOTO)

The JNU Teachers Association (JNUTA) alleged the council approved the alternative exam modes — via email or WhatsApp — even though 12 out of 18 schools and special centres had rejecting the idea.

The JNUTA alleged neither the administration informed the council members about the recommendations submitted by the Board of Studies (BOS) of the schools and committees of the special centres at JNU on their preferred mode of examination, nor allowed anyone to register dissent during the meeting.

JNU registrar Pramod Kumar in a statement said the academic council took the decision after hearing all recommendations and will submit its response to the high court by Friday. “Unfortunately, even before the minutes of meeting were finalised, the JNUTA inappropriately issued a statement making wild allegations,” Kumar said.

The Delhi High Court had on January 29 directed the BOS’ of all schools and committees of the special centres in JNU to recommend how the remaining classes of the monsoon semester can be held and exams conducted.

The court order came on a plea by several students and teachers who had challenged the university’s decision to hold the exams through alternative modes to complete the monsoon semester that not be completed in December due to the students’ strike.

The recommendations of all 13 schools and five special centres were to be presented before the council on Thursday for approval.

According to minutes of the BOS/special committee meetings, only three schools -- School of Biotechnology, School of Environmental Studies and Special Centre for Molecular Medicine --- approved the alternative mode.

Two schools, including School of Computational and Integrative Sciences and School of Social Sciences, and Special Centre for Nano Sciences, have considered a mix of both modes.

The remaining 12 schools and centres completely rejected the alternative mode of examination. Two of them --School of Language Literature and Culture Studies and School of International Studies — recommended cancellation of exams held through the alternative modes and holding them again through regular means.

After Thursday’s meeting, many AC members alleged they were not informed about the different recommendations.

“We were not given any paper mentioning the recommendations of the Board of Schools. The administration placed the observations verbally and without seeking approval from the members, it went head and announced a resolution of accepting both the alternative mode of examinations held in December as well as the regular mode exams currently under way,” said an AC member.

Another AC member and professor at the School of International Studies, V G Hegde, wrote a note of dissent to vice-chancellor Jagadesh Kumar, saying, “Most of the Board of Studies, including the one in my School, had discussed issues of academic closure of the Monsoon Semester and put their decisions in writing… None of them were referred to or circulated to the AC Members to arrive at a reasonable decision.”

Saket Moon, vice-president of the JNU Students’ Union, said they were not invited. ‘The administration held the AC meeting in an arbitrary matter. We will fight this decision both personally and legally,” he said.