JNUSU slams V-C for not reducing viva voce marks for entrance exams

The differences between the Jawaharlal Nehru Students Union (JNUSU) and Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar have again come to fore on issues raised in the recently held JNU council meeting.

One of the main issue which is being contested by the students and certain faculty members is the issue of not reducing the weightage of viva voce from 30 to 15 marks.

The academic council meeting that was convened by the V-C on December 23 and December 26 have adopted the May 5, 2016 University Grants Commission (UGC) notification on adoption of new admission procedures for academic courses in Central Universities.

For admission to courses of Mphil and PHD in JNU there will now be greater emphasis on the viva voce procedures than being dependent on the written examinations.

The JNUSU are demanding that the marks weightage of viva voce should be reduced. 

The JNUSU also slammed the V-C for conducting the academic council meeting at a time when there is a semester vacation which is being observed in JNU and therefore all the stakeholders in the admission process were not represented fairly.

Besides the reduction of marks in viva voce, the students have also demanded to roll-back the fee hike of the entrance examinations and bringing forward of the JNU entrance examinations.

On the issue of the bringing forward the JNU entrance examinations, the JNUSU have pointed out that most of the students, especially those applying for MA and MSc, will have to face JNU entrance tests even before they have studied for the final semesters of their undergraduate or post graduate courses.

The JNUSU and certain faculty members held a protest on December 23 as well as on December 26. The JNU administration has warned that action will be taking against those who protested.