St Stephen College Morning Assembly Row: Economics department head raise objections against suspension

NEW DELHI: Economics department head of St Stephen’s College Sanjeev Grewal has raised objections against the decision regarding suspension of students from college for shortage of attendance in the morning assembly. As per a letter of St Stephen’s College students, more than 100 first year students have been suspended and debarred from the semester 2 examinations.

In an email, St Stephen College principal office had asked the students’ parents and guardian to meet the principal as they had failed to meet the required attendance in morning assembly. “Due to non-compliance with this request, I inform you that the student will not be permitted to sit for the upcoming examinations as a consequence of suspension. Kindly make it convenient to meet the principal at the earliest in the morning time between 10 to 12 noon,” the PS to St Stephen College principal said in an email.

Raising objections against the decision, the economics department said the shortage of attendance in the morning college assembly is not a ground for debarring students from appearing in the examinations. “The morning assembly is a convention specific to St Stephen's College and is not recognised by the university hence is not a requirement for appearing in the examinations,” he added.

Violation of Fundamental Rights

He also pointed out that making assembly attendance compulsory may indeed be “violative of the fundamental rights of students under Articles 25 and 28(3) of the Constitution”. He added that many of the students in college are above 18 years of age and are not minors according to the law.

“As majors, they are solely responsible for their actions. The parents of students who have reached the age of eighteen can't be held accountable for the actions of their adult children. Nor can the students be penalised for the failure of their parents to meet the college Principal at short notice,” he added.

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Students' response

The students, who were suspended and debarred from the semester 2 exams, claimed that many their parents couldn’t meet the principal as they don’t reside in Delhi NCR and it wasn’t possible for them to travel all the way to Delhi at short notice due to prior commitments, scheduling issues, and financial issues. “Nonetheless, some students attempted to fix an appointment without a guardian but were rejected, and others did not receive any response to their emails or e-files regarding the appointments,” the student added.

The students have also sought clarification on the stated grounds of suspension.