A delegation of teachers from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) met Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar to apprise him of the situation that has arisen due to implementation of the UGC 2016 Gazette Notification.
Memorandum submitted
The teachers pointed out that the notification was against the UGC Act, 1956, the JNU Act, 1966, and the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006. In a memorandum, they brought to light the impact of the new admission policy, “framed arbitrarily and without the approval of the Academic Council”, based on the notification.
They said the new policy had resulted in 86% decrease in intake for 2017-18 in M.Phil/Ph.D, M.Tech/Ph.D and direct Ph.D programmes and that there are no admissions to many M.Phil/Ph.D programmes in 2017-2018.
The teachers said he listened to what they had to say and promised to reply to their memorandum point by point within two weeks. The teachers told him that though the numbers of Ph.D students had risen because 54% increase in seats between 2008-11, the standards of research hadn’t been allowed to fall. They added that it was evident from the various awards the university had received. According to the teachers, Mr. Javadekar told them that admissions would take place once appointments to various vacant posts were made.
JNU Teachers’ Association said the one big take-away from the meeting was that every happening at the university was being closely monitored and reported to the Ministry. “Our administration is the source of most of the scurrilous facts being reported as truths to the Ministry. The JNUTA will make all efforts to correct misleading impression being conveyed about JNU,” it said.
