The JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) has alleged that according to data obtained by it only 53% of the 139 seats announced as intake for the 2017-18 research degree admissions in the e-prospectus released by the university administration were filled.
Shocking, say teachers
The teachers’ association also alleged that the present admission season would go down in JNU’s history as one in which the Constitutional guarantees of reservation were not implemented, and where the effort of the JNU admission policy was to ensure no admissions.
In a statement, the JNUTA said, “this shortfall in offers is not because of a paucity of applications, as in each Centre/School for which information is available, there were enough applications. In most cases, there were enough candidates called for the viva-voce. Yet, shockingly, only 53% of the seats specified in the intake have been offered.”
The statement read that each and every programme, barring two (which had one seat each), had registered a shortfall when compared to the number of seats announced in the e-prospectus. The statement further alleged that only two SC, two ST, and 13 OBC candidates had been offered admission.
Outlining the reasons for the low intake, the teachers said that the decision to make the written test a qualifying examination, with a very high qualifying mark of 50%, had resulted in massive reduction of the pool of candidates for selection. According to the teachers, there can no longer be any doubt that the decision not to give relaxations for social disadvantage (deprivation points) in the 50% qualifying mark has proved to be disastrous for social justice.
