The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad's (ABVP) unit at the Jawaharlal Nehru University wrote to the Vice-Chancellor Dr Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar on November 16 asking for an extension for MPhil and PhD students. The students were earlier given an extension but the ABVP argued that it wasn't enough.
The students said that they did not get enough time to finish their fieldwork, had no access to libraries and other facilities provided on campus and the fellowships have not reached them on time. "Normal times have not returned for research scholars and this uncertainty has caused immense physiological and psychological challenges. For your kind information, currently, there are around 1350 students in JNU who fall under the categories of final submission year — 9(B) category — those who got extension among others in all disciplines of research but could not pursue their research due to COVID-19 related challenges," said Shivam Chaurasia, the ABVP's JNU Unit President. "No access has been given to access the JNU central library facilities such as borrowing of books for a longer period of time for the research scholars causing a delay in pursuing qualitative academic research," added the letter submitted to the Vice-Chancellor.
The students have been getting back to campus in a staggered routine fixed by the university. The students were given an extension last year but many have not been able to finish their research due to various reasons pertaining to the pandemic. "There are several students who could not undertake their fieldwork due to the prolonged lockdown and absence of any facilitation mechanisms due to COVID-19. Several students could not pursue their planned interview and surveys as they could not travel facilities outside Delhi as permissions were not availed to them by individuals and organisations related to their research," The letter added and requested the administration to grant a further extension to the scholars.
