On 9 September, the JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) stated in a press release that “the administrative high authority continues to destroy JNU”. In the press release, the union had objected to certain appointments made in the JNU administration, the formation of an executive council and a new medical institution within the university campus.
Calling JNUTA members as “chair critics”, JNU Vice Chancellor, Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar told ANI, “There are some faculty members in the university who are trying to create a negative image of the university which is very unfortunate. While The whole country thinks so positively about the university, some of our own allies are trying to bring down the image and functioning of the university.”
The VC said, “Some people are talking about setting up of medical school in the university. A lot of ground work was done regarding setting up of medical schools and it is in line with the statutes of the university.”
The VC said, “Whatever decision we take is discussed in the statutory bodies of JNU. Be it setting up of School of Medicine or implementation of NEP or recent course against terrorism. Any criticism that these things are good. There has been no discussion in any way, it is baseless.”
“No substantive discussion was permitted, which arose out of the absence of disagreement recorded in the minutes against these matters,” the press release said.
JNU’s recent decision to add a medical college, which was unanimously approved by the Academic Council, was also criticized.
When asked, the VC says, “The statute very clearly says that the university will grant degrees in various fields and one such is Doctor of Medicine, Bachelor of Medicine and others. They are opposing the idols. Which is not good for the development of the university.”
The school also said to offer PhD, MD, MS, DM, MCh and MBBS degree programs with emphasis on modern medicine.
Sources said that the land allotted to the university is in the green zone here. “Too many cannot be built, but they should know that the university has a vision plan, and as a part of this vision plan we have already allotted more than 200 acres of land to expand the academic program That’s why JNUTA is opposing the very approach of development,” sources told ANI.
The VC said whatever decision JNU takes for the university, it is being widely discussed with the apex statutory body of the university.
Recently, the university’s executive council approved a new anti-terrorism curriculum, the content of which has been criticized by a section of teachers and students.
JNU was rated as the second best university in India by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NRIF) by the Ministry of Education.
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