Sonali Supriya Bagh
It was 15th of March, when we heard about the pandemic affecting India and the possible shutdown of the university till the end of the month. As the circular came in later, our main concern was to be able to book a ticket back. As risky as the journey was, the first two weeks at home were not a relief either due to the constant fear of possibly having been infected while travelling back. On one hand where we talk about how to tackle the physical ailments, we seem to turn a blind eye unto the issues relating to mental health. Given the incidents those took place in the last few months; the administration’s insensitiveness shouldn’t have come as a surprise.
Being a public university, EFLU draws in a large number of students every year promising them quality education as well as affordable boarding. The campus has 24/7 Wi-Fi system available for the students and also a computer lab. Majority of the students rely on the campus Wi-Fi and the lab for studies and assignments. Many do come from rural areas with serious network issues and many don’t own personal computers either.
In such conditions, it is unfair to impose attendance mandated online classes, rather than opting for other more flexible modes of distance education. Online classes almost every week day, demanding the students to sit for at least 2 hours is not something that all can afford. Along with the bulk of assignments that had started piling up and were to be submitted on prescribed dates, the university’s circular to extend the dates for these submissions and that asking the teachers to refrain from marking attendance based on the participation in the online classes perhaps came a month too late. A university has its own areas of excellence and also those where it lacks. It is commendable to take que from other institutions to better one’s own, and yet it is very illogical to overrule the weaknesses and go further, blindly to implement something that is not possible to achieve at the given moment.
Looking back now, this seems as a microcosm of what has actually been happening on the larger front. It is something that started with the extension of the December vacation on the pretext of renovation work, while major central universities and other educational institutions across the nation were standing up against the draconian rules of the government.
The extension came shortly after the teachers’ body decided to stand in solidarity with Jamia Millia Islamia. Those few students who were holding placards as a sign of peaceful protest were given show cause notice. The university compelled the students to fill in the annexure 5 during the admission, which prohibits the students to participate in any protest, clearly depriving them of their constitutional right. Many had already booked their return tickets, the university promised to bear the charges for those travelling via train or bus, but had refrained from compensating for the flight charges.
Since the reopening of the university this year the campus has witnessed a number of protests. On Tuesday, 28th January, the administration released a circular after the official working hours, which introduced changes to the admission process, use of the bell curve grading system and reduction in the intake of students for the courses offered. The university has a functional students’ council with democratically elected members, and yet such grave matters were not intimated to the students’ council prior to releasing the circular. The university also didn’t have an academic council, which in such cases is the body that debates and decides whether to bring about such changes in the ongoing academic term. The administration has been seen taking decisions solely without discussing with the elected bodies.
There is an obvious lack of communication and also a promotion of an authoritarian system that doesn’t heed to the voice of reason. The way the EFLU administration has been releasing random circulars at odd hours very much reflects the sudden decisions taken by the central government on various occasions which has later proved to have very devastating results. Where the latter avoids press conferences, thus refraining from situating oneself in a position where one has to be answerable, the former avoids any kind of confrontation with the student body during protests.
Even during this lockdown, the lack of thoughtfulness of the EFLU administration is very frustrating. The students’ council had approached the administration a number of times, taking up the issues faced by the students due to data crunch and inaccessibility of technology, and therefore requesting for a better and more flexible mode to make things more inclusive. And after much toiling and relentless negotiation the results finally came, yet too late. There is an obvious lack of consistency when it comes to decision making and the sudden shift in the online exam dates for the semester and also the reduction in the time duration to just 2 hours proves it further. All these have been building a kind of resentment among the students and no one else but the university administration is to be blamed for this.
(Sonali is a student from EFLU)
