The year 2022. We saw COVID (again). However, amidst the pandemic-related disruptions, some major announcements with regard to entrance examinations, curriculum changes, Supreme Court verdicts and campus issues made headlines.
Restrictions on women's education
The year 2022 began with the hijab row, wherein, a government women’s PU college in Udupi, Karnataka barred students from wearing hijabs inside the classroom. The issue soon flared up into a controversy with protests erupting across the state. Soon, several petitions were filed in the Karnataka High Court, in which, Muslim students sought the right to wear hijabs in classrooms under Article 14, 19 and 25 of the Constitution of India.
On March 15, the high court dismissed the petitions, ruling that it is not a part of the essential religious practice in the Islamic faith. The matter reached the Supreme Court and after months of hearings and adjournments, the top court delivered a split verdict on the matter. Justice Hemant Gupta's verdict upholds the hijab ban verdict of Karnataka HC, as per LiveLaw.
Justice Sudhanshshu Dhulia, on the other hand, allowed all the appeals and set aside the judgment of the Karnataka HC. While the issue nearly completes one year, activists express concern over girl students being denied education. "To deny girls entry to educational institutions over hijab is denying them their Right to Education. Along with this right, their Right to Privacy, Freedom of Expression is being violated despite constitutional provisions. Uniform cannot be more important than education," said Zakia Soman, who is a part of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan. She was a petitioner in the triple talaq matter in the Supreme Court and campaigned extensively for its abolition.
Moreover, a report by Deccan Herald, which was also quoted in the Supreme Court, stated a 16 per cent dropout rate in pre-university colleges due to the hijab ban. Zakia added that this will indirectly affect the future of the country. "Girls and women play an instrumental role in bringing about any positive change. Girls need education to know that they are victims of patriarchy. I hope the larger bench will do justice," she said.
Meanwhile, news comes in from another Southeast nation, Afghanistan, wherein, the Taliban has barred girls from attending secondary school and ordered women to stop attending private and public universities, effective immediately.
When issues erupted on campus
Although this was the year that saw students come back to campus after the Omicron wave, educational institutions did witness a whole lot — protests, suspensions, ragging cases and much more.
An assistant professor at Kolkata's reputed St Xavier's University, who was forced to resign in October last year for posting pictures in a swimsuit on Instagram, was also slapped with a defamation notice by the university authorities demanding damage compensation to the tune of Rs 99 crore.
The girl students of Kozhikode Medical College, Kerala began their fight against the strict hostel curfew timings which they claim were only being enforced for them and not for the boys.
South Asian University, Delhi found itself in turmoil after expulsion and show-cause notices were sent to students who have been protesting for an increase in scholarships for master's students, stipends on par with the Junior Research Fellowship for PhD students and for student representation in the Internal Complaints Committee.
Protests also erupted at the University of Hyderabad over an alleged rape attempt by a professor. The accused was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.
Multiple colleges in states such as Assam, Odisha and Telangana reported ragging cases. When EdexLive reached out to colleges where ragging cases came to the fore recently, it came to light that anti-ragging committees in these institutions were not fully active
MBBS students from medical colleges in Haryana went on a two month-long agitation against the state government's bond policy. The protests were called off after the students were given assurances.
What ailed international students?
The year 2022 also bore witness to escalating tensions between countries. For example, the Russia-Ukraine war. Here too, students in the respective countries stood affected.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, about 20,000 Indian students from Ukraine fled the country amid the raging war. Most of them are medical students who couldn’t afford the fees of private medical colleges in India and after the Russia-Ukraine war forced them to come back home, they hoped for remedies from the government in whatever way possible. The Supreme Court has requested the Centre to solve their problems immediately. The next hearing on the matter is on January 25, 2023.
Since the Taliban entered the capital city of Kabul on August 15, 2021 and took control of Afghanistan, around 2,000 Afghan students, who were studying in Indian universities, have been stranded in the war-torn nation as they are awaiting Indian student visas. Students said that while they were asked to apply for the emergency e-visa, they haven’t received any positive response from officials in both countries.
Indian students enrolled in various Chinese universities still await their return to China. After two-and-a-half years of the pandemic, China finally started issuing visas to Indian students in August 2022. However, that was followed by a wait for “campus returning certificates” from universities as formal permission and although a few students are yet to receive it, the ones who have the required documents stare at a complicated and expensive journey back to China.
Competitive exams and complications
This year also saw the introduction of the second-largest entrance exam after the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) — the Common University Entrance Test (CUET), for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate colleges. However, it was marred by technical glitches, cancellations and postponements.
The national medical entrance examination — National Eligibility cum Entrance test (NEET), was also not spared when it came to controversies. In July, young women and girls who reached an exam centre in Kollam district of Kerala to appear for the exam were asked to remove their undergarments in order to attempt the exam. Various youth organisations protested and condemned the incident.
(JEE) too saw calls for postponement, relaxation in eligibility criteria and additional attempts. The first session of JEE Main 2023 is scheduled to be conducted between January 24 to 31, 2023 while the second session will be held from April 6 to 12, 2023. The students claim that this schedule is problematic and brings in many disadvantages, ranging from clashes in dates to allowing little time for syllabus completion.
Aspirants of the Union Public Service Commission Civil Services Exam (UPSC CSE) have also been demanding an extra attempt to clear the exam.
Education experts express concern over the National Testing Agency (NTA) and its mismanagement of these exams. "The agency should be completely revamped to support the technical aspects of conducting these exams online. It should also release the proposed calendar with the probable dates of all national importance exams including CLAT, NIFT and so on so that students can prepare for them in a better way," said Jayaprakash Gandhi, an education expert.
What does 2023 have in store for students?
While the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 will be implemented with more gusto, more changes will be brought in with the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) from the next academic session, which allows greater flexibility with multiple entry and exit options from the programme.
The National Medical Commission (NMC) has also released the draft guidelines for the National Exit Test (NExT) for feedback and comments from the public., which is also set to replace the NEET PG and FMGE. The admission process into PG courses will begin in May and if it is concluded by the end of June, PG courses will begin in July.
