Worried about a plethora of issues at Jadavpur University's Faculty of Engineering and Technology, the JU Teachers' Association wrote to the Vice-Chancellor Dr Suranjan Das who is also the Chairman of the Faculty Council of Engineering and Technology, asking him to pay attention and resolve the issues that are causing the "humiliation of the teaching community".
In the letter that mentions seven major issues, the JUTA said that while the instruction is to move from online to offline mode, they would need some time for a smooth transition. "We believe that for a smooth transition, some amount of time may be taken by all the stakeholders of the university for everything to settle down to normalcy," said Dr Partha Pratim Ray, General Secretary, JUTA. "Just after the starting of offline classes several students who are staying far from Kolkata faced some problems for immediate arrangement of transport. So they requested to defer offline classes for one week. As per their request, the Teacher-Student committee and Departmental Board of Studies took the decision (to defer offline classes). As per our statute, Departmental Boards of Studies have the power to look into all academic matters. But it is unfortunate that the autonomy of Departmental Boards of Studies is being hampered," said Dr Ray.
The teachers also added that if classes are held strictly in offline mode, examinations must also be held strictly in offline mode as well. But they said that the rules should be the same for all. "In some cases, we see that third, fourth and fifth-year students have announced that they will not attend the offline classes now. If we consider the ground reality, we have to take decisions department-wise. If we are to speak of rules and regulations, they must be the same for all the years," said the letter.
But the online-offline conundrum is not all that's causing trouble. The teachers claim that the students do not have enough respect for the faculty. Specifically the student leaders. "In Jadavpur University the teachers have always given priority to the general students’ problems and tried to help them. That is why the teacher-student relationship is so strong here. But in some recent incidents, a few student leaders have shown extremely derogatory behaviour towards teachers. This may hamper the teacher-student relationship of this university," read the letter. They also added that the engineering faculty have been targeted time and again and alleged that there might be forces that are working against the faculty at the varsity. The letter was sent to the VC on February 10.
Recently, the dean of engineering at JU resigned after students alleged that teachers were insisting on online classes even after the West Bengal government has asked to resume physical classes.
