JNU fee hike: Is omitting exams a solution?
New Delhi: For the students in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), right to education holds more value than sitting for examinations, which is why majority of students have decided to boycott the examinations demanding a rollback in fee hike from the authorities.
One could have never imagined that students would boycott their examinations, to save the education system. JNU's 45-day protest has started a nation-wide agitation with many universities standing in solidarity with the Central University over the fee hike issue.
Both teachers and students stand united against the administration, which they claim to be the "government's puppet". Despite the administration not communicating with the students they all have come together and chant 'education for all' in unionism.
"The People United Will Never Be Defeated!" they chanted loudly on the roads and inside the campus. The song which was initially composed as an anthem for Chile's popular unity government, reflecting the spirit behind the mass mobilisation of working-class people, is now a method for students to tell the authorities that nothing could deter their determination.
As students stood freezing outside locked schools in JNU, on Wednesday, a silence of revolution hung around them. "We will not give the exams," said a student with finality, outside the School of Physical Sciences. But when asked till what extent will they go, the student replied, "Till they don't roll back the hostel manual."
It's not just the students, but the teachers as well, who have supported the students at every step. "We stand by what the students are doing. Education in a university like JNU cannot be privatised," said a professor at JNU. But is boycotting the examinations a sane step? "Absolutely!" he replied. "The agitation has taken a lot from the students academically and only the administration is to be blamed for that," he said.
If one thought only professors at JNU supported the students, the teachers from Delhi University would say otherwise. "We stand with the students of JNU," said a professor from DU's Kalindi College.
She added that the whole country should pay heed to what is happening inside JNU. "Right now, it is JNU, tomorrow it might be DU. How can we keep mum here," she added. However, not everyone agrees with what the students are doing. "There are ways to do things, I don't support the whole JNU agitation," said an Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) student.
Barring a few ABVP members, most students have collectively agreed to boycott the examinations. It's a silent approval that everyone has taken collectively. "I think everyone is aware and sort of scared somewhere, but they know it is necessary, for the authorities to pay heed, which by thy way, have not addressed the students even once," said Gaurav, a PhD scholar.
