JNU panel to review special centres ‘direct assault on academic autonomy’: JNUTA

NEW DELHI: The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) has condemned the announcement on constitution of a seven-member committee to review the functioning of the special centres and has demanded withdrawal of the notification issued by the university. The teachers’ body sees the panel as a “direct assault” on academic autonomy.

The committee, which has been mandated to review the syllabi, courses, faculty strength, infrastructure among other issues, has been directed to submit a status report within a month, JNUTA noted.

The teachers’ association argued that the special centres exist according to the rules laid down by the statutes and ordinances of JNU, and have their own statutory equivalent to the Committee for Advanced Studies and Research (CASR) and Board of Studies (BOS). All the academic matters are granted approval by these statutory bodies and further by the university’s academic council, JNUTA claimed, and said that neither the academic branch nor the vice-chancellor have the “statutory authority” to appoint a “random” committee to review any centre or school.

“The creation of such a Committee goes against the very statutory structure and spirit of the model of decentralised and democratic functioning that has been the hallmark of JNU, which has been responsible for Centres, Special Centres and Schools engaging in innovative pedagogy and design,” the teachers stated.

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Censor on research and training

Pressing on the fact that the special centres work under the rules and mechanisms deriving from the statutes and ordinances, the teachers’ group said that the centres have been set up during the last 24 years with the basic task of offering interdisciplinary research programmes also including masters courses.

JNUTA believes that, with the formation of the committee, the university is trying to censor research and training. “It is a shame that the university administration under the garb of a review is now seeking to replace this tried and tested model of functioning by one that is not only antithetical to academic autonomy but is also yet another clear attempt at violating statutory processes and imposing from the top attempts to control and censor research and teaching.”

It further accused JNU and VC Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit of disregarding the rules and ordinances and engaging in disrupting the existing academic system. JNUTA further alleged that the committee is being illegally imposed in an attempt to replace the autonomy of the centres with an “authoritarian” control and believes that the move will only lead to a severe damage to the educational institution.

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“JNUTA therefore unequivocally condemns the notification that has no basis in rules and regulations that govern the University and strongly demands that it be immediately revoked. In the absence of such a withdrawal, the JNUTA will be forced to escalate the matter - the responsibility for which will lie solely with the Vice Chancellor and the JNU Administration,” the teachers’ association stated.