JNUSU alleges bias against poor students at viva voce

Union protests outside UGC office

Aishe Ghosh

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) and other groups protested outside the University Grants Commission (UGC) office on Wednesday alleging that students belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes were being discriminated at the viva voce conducted during the time of admissions.

JNU had denied claims

JNU had earlier denied such claims made by the students and said that the university follows a fair, transparent, and inclusive admission policy which is the foundation of its proven academic excellence.

“The marginalisation of students from socially and economically poor backgrounds was clearly exposed by the fact that many students who scored high marks in the entrance examination did poorly in the interview,” activists from the Students Federation of India said at the protest.

JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh said that repeated attack on education and the rights of students is becoming a major challenge for the student community. “The National Education Policy 2020 betrays the very ethos of public-funded education in the country; it poses the threat of widening the gap that exists between students from marginalised communities and others. What underwent in JNU during the viva voce was only another instance of a long-standing culture of bias against the disadvantaged,” Ms. Ghosh said.