After a lockdown and mass-boycott of exams for the two months against the fee-hike and utility charges in hostels, Jawahar Lal Nehru University declared on Monday that it is ready to implement the new hostel manual from Wednesday. Further, the Vice-Chancellor has appealed the students to call off the strikes and complete their semester exams to begin the winter semester. The circular was issued following a meeting between all the three Rectors of the varsity, the university’s Registrar, the Deans of Schools and Chairpersons of the Special Centres.
According to India Today’s report, the vice-chancellor, Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, said, “Although the university administration and the relevant bodies followed the statutory process for revising the room rent and hostel charges, a false impression was created as if the administration was bringing about these changes to harm the students”. Moreover, he added, that the increase in the hostel charges was because of the fiscal pressure on the University budget and to be able to provide comfortable accommodation to the students.
The notice further mentioned that the students that have completed the academic requirements of Monsoon semester are urged to register for the next semester, between January 4 to January 5. On the other hand, the students who haven’t completed their academic requirements will be provided with a provisional registration in the same period. However, they are required to complete the Monsoon semester by January 20, 2020, to validate their provisional registration. The Dean and the Chairperson have confirmed that the evaluation and results of the provisionally registered students will be completed by January 20.
“The university is giving yet another chance to the students to complete their academic requirements of Monsoon semester 2019. I appeal to the agitating students to call off their strike and lockdown of certain school buildings,” he said in the meeting.
The vice-president of JNU’s Student Union, Saket Moon confirmed that the students had a meeting with the Rectors and discussed some issues. However, he further added that the students’ union will hold a meeting to decide whether they will take the exams or not.
