JNU V-C stands firm on attendance

Students express dissent

The Jawaharlal Nehru Students’ Union (JNUSU) on Monday met Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar and submitted 2,500 signatures of students who had expressed dissent on the implementation of attendance.

JNUSU president Geeta Kumari said the union had put forward its views on how the system would curtail academic freedom and destroy JNU’s academic culture. “We tried to explain how students of the campus attend lectures not just in classrooms, but also at dhabas and hostel mess. Learning is a 24x7 process for JNU students, and as responsible adults students have never denied their responsibility,” said Ms. Kumari.

IIT culture

The JNUSU members said the V-C, however, stuck to his stand that compulsory attendance was a part of IIT culture and that JNU should adopt that model.

The union has requested all students to boycott signings of the attendance register said that they would continue their fight to uphold academic freedom on campus. JNU Teachers’ Association president Ayesha Kidwai said the teachers’ body would decide its course of action at its General Body Meeting which is scheduled for January 10.