The Jawaharlal Nehru University has issued a circular on December 30 announcing that the registration for the Winter Semester 2020 will begin from January 1 and go on till January 5. The Vice-Chancellor, Dr Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, reiterated the same in his message to the students adding that a meeting with Rectors, Registrar, the Deans and Chairpersons decided that the Winter Session will go on as scheduled and evaluation and examination will be conducted by January 20.
But the students have denied being part of any examination until the situation is resolved. The circular has provisions for even those who did not appear for the exams. But those who have completed their academic requirements for the Monsoon Semester 2019 and have their clearances from all the departments including the "Proctor's office and the Inter-Hall Administration (IHA)" have nothing to worry and can go for the regular registration process. Those who did not sit for the exams will be provided provisional registration if they have clearance from the concerned departments and a chance to complete their academic requirements by January 20.
There are some hurdles that are likely to pop up for the students who have been protesting for over 60 days now. More than 300 students have a proctorial enquiry going on against them and thus cannot get a clearance. Protesting students claim that this is an attempt to confound students. "The Vice-Chancellor has been forced by the Delhi High Court order to resolve the deadlock. The court had put the onus on him. So the JNUSU has been having meetings with the Rector. They want us to concede and accept the MHRD's recommendations," said Apeksha Priyadarshini, a member of students' organisation BASO. "They had themselves said that the increase is minimal. Then why not take it back. The UGC had already agreed to pay for the utility charges. We want the students to be included in discussions regarding such decisions. The students' GBMs had decided that we want a complete rollback — there is no scope for a bargain," she said.
The VC in his address to the students appealed to the agitating students to stop the protest. "I appeal to the agitating students to call off their strike and lockdown on certain school buildings. Let us make a new beginning in the new year to take the university forward," he wrote. Adding that over the past three years and more, JNU has achieved many milestones in its academic excellence, he lamented that there are certain "recent incidents" which have deeply impeded the growth of the varsity. "It is difficult to fathom what prompted our students to take the path of confrontation and disruption affecting the teaching and research work towards the end of the Monsoon Semester 2019. Although the University administration and the relevant bodies followed the statutory process for revising the room rent and hostel charges, a false impression was created as if the administration were bringing about these changes to harm the students. Nothing can be farther from the truth. The nominal increase in the hostel charges was necessitated owing to mounting fiscal pressure on the University budget, and to maintain a comfortable and conducive hostel accommodation. The administration made several attempts to establish meaningful dialogues with the agitating students to explain the rationale behind the new hostel charges," he added.
The VC went on to add that the agitating students "prevented the teachers and non-agitating students from entering a few school buildings". This, he said, has put enormous pressure on the bonafide students as their future is at stake. "Fortunately, in several other schools and special centres examinations were conducted as per the academic schedule. The Winter Semester of 2020 will start as per the academic schedule," he said.
