Clashing entrance exam dates proves administration's lackadaisical attitude: JNUSU

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union has accused the administration and the Vice-Chancellor of not paying any heed to the students. Be it  when it comes to the research scholars' extension or the prospective students who will sit for the entrance exam from October 5 to 8, students feel ignored. "It feels like they don't want the new students to come to JNU and want to push the PhD students out," said the union during a virtual press conference.

The JNUSU has been complaining about the administration's "complete ignorance" about the entrance exams which has clashed with university exams, the research scholars' extension, students coming back to campus and the administration's "arbitrary" decisions when it came to paying the election expenditure. "Students have been allotted centres in different cities for different exams. The dates have clashed with college final exams which mean that those students will have to wait a year if they want to apply to JNU. It feels like the JNU administration has outsourced the exam and then washed their hands off of it," said JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh. "It has become a sham. The very act of releasing the date sheet fifteen days before the examination during the pandemic when transport facilities in the country are disrupted is nothing but callous on National Testing Agency's part. The NTA had to retrospectively change the dates of the UGC-NET earlier scheduled on October 7. But the JNUEE still clashes with the final semester examinations of Calcutta University, Jadavpur University, Mumbai University, Burdwan University, NEHU, and a number of premier educational institutions. The fact that JNUEE clashes with the university exams of other important institutions reflects that there is a lack of seriousness in the planning of the examination," she added.

The JNUSU also alleged that the research scholars are being unnecessarily put under stress by the administration. "The JNU administration has laid down arbitrary and unreasonable guidelines for PhD research scholars who were supposed to submit their thesis by the end of December, but are now stranded at various places with varying access to internet and research materials," said JNUSU Vice President Saket Moon.

"Despite a number of communications sent by the JNUSU, the university would not allow students to return phase wise with proper protocols even as other universities have done. At the same time, the administration has told PhD scholars without internet, access to the library, access to hostels or even a proper space to study, to essentially leave the university as soon as possible. A circular on the September 1 asked students to submit the application for their 9B extension by September 30. The 9B extension of one year as on the PhD ordinance of the university before 2018 requires the submission of 90 per cent of the PhD draft. Students who have not been able to access the internet or the above-described facilities, and in addition students of sciences, computer, geography and those courses which require fieldwork have not been able to access labs or their fieldwork sites. A lot of students under duress have written to the administration to extend the date for application of 9B up till December 31 and immediately initiate a phase-wise return," said Satish Chandra Yadav, JNUSU General Secretary.

Not only have these appeals fallen on deaf ears, but the JNU administration has also allegedly modified the PhD ordinances to reduce the maximum period allotted for 9B from one year to just six months, said the students. "The JNU Administration has similarly put the PhD synopsis presentation of students in MPhil-PhD batch of 2016, in contravention to the prospectus and PhD ordinances they are governed by. This is contempt of the orders of the Delhi High Court which stipulates students be ruled by the prospectus and ordinances applicable at the time of their admission to the university," added Yadav.

The office bearers also spoke about the administration "criminally and illegally" removing the Student Union Fee from the prospectus. The JNUSU also demanded that offline exams be immediately conducted by allowing the concerned students back to campus, so that it does not hamper their career any further.