The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) have decided to boycott semester-end examinations, scheduled to begin from December 12, and go for complete suspension of academic activities in protest over the hostel fee hike, according to a resolution adopted by it on Thursday.
The JNU administration, however, said the examinations will be conducted according to schedule so that academic careers of thousands of students are saved. It also said that persistent student agitation in the university has severely affected the "academic life".
Members of JNUSU and JNU Teachers' Association met NCP MP Supriya Sule on Thursday and urged her to raise issues concerning the university in Parliament. Sule later tweeted a picture of her with the representatives of the JNUSU and JNUTA.
The students' union has decided to go on a 'Shiksha Bachao Padyatra' from JNU to Rashtrapati Bhawan to submit a deposition to the President, who is also a visitor to the university. They invited students of all universities and institutions to join them and raise the issues of privatisation and exorbitant fee hike.
A general body meeting, participated by student representatives from various schools and centres, unanimously adopted a resolution for complete suspension of academic activities including all evaluative requirements such as exams, assignments and others until there is a complete rollback of the hostel manual, the JNUSU said.
"It is to be noted that such an unprecedented step at this time is a result of the attitude of (JNU Vice Chancellor) Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar and the HRD ministry who refuse to do anything other than engage in perception optics, distortions and deceit," it said.
The students' association held the university administration "solely responsible for the academic lag" and demanded that it must compensate for it to students by not dragging the matter any further, talk to the elected students union and until then roll back the hostel manual and fee hike.
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"Students are ready to return to their classes as soon as they have clarity to their future existence in JNU which they can accept," the JNUSU said. They also alleged that the HRD Ministry was responsible for the state of affairs in the university since it has been withholding the high-powered enquiry committee report on JNU.
The administration has still not met the protesting students or rolled back the Inter-Hall Administration (IHA) manual "passed in the illegal meeting" held on October 28, it said.
The JNUSU said it will coordinate with institutions like the IIT, AIIMS, Ashoka University and others, and teachers' unions to raise the draft New Education Policy issue and "sale of public education through fund cuts".
The JNU students alleged that the guards deployed in hostels are being forced to charge at students protesting peacefully at the freedom square and the academic area.
"In unprecedented scenes, a woman's hand was broken after severe manhandling by guards. The diversion of guards has led to a situation wherein women's hostels are being left unguarded," they said.
Meanwhile, the JNU administration said that students of School of Social Sciences, School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies and School of Arts and Aesthetics are particularly faced with difficulties in preparing for the end semester examinations due to "complete lockdown" of the schools by the agitators.
It claimed that "innocent students" are under mental stress and have been writing to the officials for assistance so that they can complete their academic requirements without disruptions.
"Loud sloganeering at odd hours has been causing enormous disturbance to school-going children of the university employees and anxiety to the elderly. Every day some agitating students are preventing the staff from entering the administrative building," the administration said in a statement.
Owing to closure of the administrative building, salaries of contractual staff cannot be disbursed in time and the administration is also not being able to clear medical bills of the ailing employees, give permissions for special medical treatments for life threatening illnesses and even process fellowship forms of the students.
The international students of JNU are particularly affected as their visa deadlines are approaching, the university said.