After teachers gheraoed, Jadavpur University VC, threatens to quit

Image Courtesy:telegraphindia.com

A few days after Jadavpur University pro-VC, Chiranjeeb Bhattacharya, and a few senior teachers of the engineering and technology faculty, including three deans were allegedly ‘gheraoed’ by student leaders who were demanding restructuring the Jadavpur University Management System (JUMS), and the discussions on the issue yielded no results the vice-chancellor has threatened to quit. According to a report in The Telegraph, the JUMS is used to publish results online, and it has faced complaints of errors. The students have been protesting on the issue for a few weeks now, leading to the alleged gherao, alleged confinement of teachers, and then the lengthy discussions.

However, with no breakthrough, the Jadavpur University vice-chancellor Suranjan Das reportedly told the teachers on Wednesday night, that he will quit his post, The Telegraph reported that this announcement followed yet another round of alleged confinement of the teachers by students. The report quoted the VC saying: “In such circumstances, myself and my two Pro-VCs feel that we should not continue to remain in the office.”

According to the VC, the pro-VC and others had agreed to an in-person meeting after the student leaders promised that they won’t resort to confinement, “but what followed was a complete breach of trust.” However Aritra Majumder, chairperson, engineering and technology students’ union, has maintained that “nobody has been confined” adding that the JU authorities were “not listening to our grievances.”

This friction between students and teachers had started when the Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students’ Union (Fetsu) led agitations on December 9 and 11 over alleged anomalies in the management system, reported The Telegraph. Then on December 11, at a meeting of the JUMS Restructuring Committee, a section of students, “including, most unfortunately, some who were themselves members of the Committee, prevented other members of the Committee (teachers and officials), from leaving the meeting even after discussions had been concluded”, stated the news report, adding that the teachers were detained till 1.30am. In the news report dated December 16, it quoted teachers at Jadavpur University asking that they be allowed to return home, “just as students have the right to agitate for their demands, teachers too have the right to return home after meetings,” said the teachers who alleged they were detained for hours “in this pandemic situation”. They warned that this, “can have severe, if not fatal, consequences”.

The Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association (Juta) has flagged the points in a letter to vice-chancellor Suranjan Das, stated the news report, days after teachers and officials were gheraoed by the students’ union of the engineering faculty over alleged lapses in the online Jadavpur University Management System (JUMS). The JUTA wrote that, “staying inside a confined space for nearly twelve hours in this pandemic situation can have severe, if not fatal, consequences, especially for those who suffer from various ailments, as many teachers and officials do.”

The VC had not commented on the issue then, however the students’ leader Aritra Majumder, had reportedly said that “Corona is not the sole crisis. We are of the view that demands regarding the results are of immediate concern to us…. Realising the importance of the demands being raised by the students, we would suggest the teachers rethink their stand.”

The JUTA, added the report had also issued a statement on November 25 where it blamed students for the resignation of two acting deans of science over the past couple of months, alleging “harassment and humiliation a section of teachers was subjected to by some students in the science faculty.”