Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is set to foray into offering medical sciences with the Academic Council (AC) of the university, clearing the decks for the establishment of a School of Medical Sciences and an attached hospital.
JNU said that the establishment of the new field was keeping in consonance with the National Education Policy-2020.
The decision is now in the hands of the Executive Council of the university, which is the highest decision-making body of the university.
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The university, which is primarily known for its Social Sciences courses, had established a School of Engineering and the Atal Bihari Vajpayee School of Management and Entrepreneurship in 2018 and 2019.
Unanimously approved
The Rector of JNU Rana P. Singh said that the Academic Council had unanimously approved, as per the provisions of JNU Act 1966, the establishing of a School of Medical Sciences and an attached hospital with broad and super speciality departments including supporting and non-conventional departments on Tuesday.
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“This school will offer PhD, MD PhD, MD, MS, DM, MCh and MBBS degree programmes, with an emphasis on modern medicine integrated with traditional medicine and knowledge systems from humanities and Social Sciences.” Mr. Singh said.
He added that JNU has a strong tradition of basic and applied research in biomedical sciences, which will be integrated with the clinical research giving a holistic perspective of the medical sciences.
The JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) said that the AC approval for the establishment of a medical school and a super speciality hospital within JNU is without any major prior discussion on the feasibility of such a programme among faculty belonging to the Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health and other related Schools.
The teachers, in a letter to Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, questioned how “caretaker” Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar, whose term ended in January this year, was being allowed to “push through” substantial decisions that in ordinary circumstances and as per the Statutes and the Directives of the Government of India are not permissible under law for a person in his position.
Decision overdue
“JNU has been without a regular V-C for over seven months now, even though the process of finding a replacement started in October 2020. Provision of the University Statute and the Ministry’s Department of Higher Education’s directive issued in June 2020 explicitly forbid the outgoing V-C from taking substantive decisions on policy matters, which Prof. Kumar has been brazenly defying by taking major decisions that have a bearing on the future functioning of the university,” the teachers said in their letter.
The teachers asked the Minister to take cognisance of the several instances of procedural irregularities at the university and appoint of a regular Vice-Chancellor for JNU at the earliest.