JNU VC to conduct Facebook Live session to discuss COVID on campus: How interactive will it be?

The Jawaharlal Nehru University's student and teacher community have always had a complaint that Dr Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, the acting Vice-Chancellor, who just retired and is looking for a worthy successor, has never been good with interactions with the students or the professors. They have complained how he has been reluctant to talk to them even during the fee hike protests that rocked the entire country in 2019. But now, JNU has organised an interactive session on Facebook where the VC along with other administrative officials will address the JNU community on May 19 at 4 PM.

But not all the students and teachers are still happy. JNU Students' Union President Aishe Ghosh said that she doesn't think this is a productive move because the students are not allowed to speak. "They block the students who want to interact and ask questions," said Aishe, who just contested the West Bengal polls on a CPI(M) ticket. She said that it's all for the show.

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The Teachers' Association is also not very excited about the interaction. "It's just a one-way process on Facebook Live. Comments are disabled," said Dr Moushumi Basu, Secretary of the JNUTA. The teachers, at least a section of them, feel that the session is just going to be another example of the officials speaking and others listening to them.

The ABVP, on the other hand, is more optimistic about the interaction. Shivam Chaurasia, the ABVP-JNU President, said that this is a time when no effort should be dissed because of partisan politics. "Last time when there was an interaction, the VC Coordinated everything well and questions were passed on to the respective officials who were handling the particular issues. This is a time when we should go beyond party lines to work the issues. These are desperate times," he said.