Denying allegations of being insensitive, JNU admin says it was flexible during pandemic

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration on Tuesday rejected the teacher association's allegation of being 'highly insensitive' towards the faculty and students, and said it had all along adopted a flexible and lenient approach to help scholars amid the pandemic.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Association (JNUTA) had criticised the administration on Monday after it initiated registration process for the students admitted in 2020-21, saying that many universities in the country had either declared vacation or suspended their online classes due to the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

"JNU wants to stand out as the only institution to have not opted or allowed for any break between semesters for over a year and half during the COVID-19 pandemic," JNUTA said in a statement. In response, the JNU issued a statement denying the "baseless allegation" and said that in view of the second wave, it had 'twice postponed' the date of registration following the requests from the schools and the special centres only after the Deans of Schools and Chairpersons of all Special Centres suggested the need for starting the registration process for these students that a decision was taken to start the registration process," the varsity said.

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It added that administration has all along adopted 'a flexible and lenient approach' to enable the students to complete their courses and examinations by delegating the decisions on teaching, examination and evaluation processes to schools and special centres. "The university has often extended the deadline of registration and has allowed late registration without late fine to help the students who face difficulties. The reported allegations thus are untrue and baseless," it said.