The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association (JNUTA) had announced a 24-hour hunger strike on November 25 against the university administration’s decision making it mandatory for them to mark their attendance every day. The teachers demanded the restoration of the academic and institutional functioning of the university.
In a statement by the teacher’s association, it said , “We would like to reiterate that the decision to go on hunger strike by JNUTA was taken because the administration is hell-bent on destroying the teacher learning process in JNU. JNUTA demands that arbitrary circulars regarding the rescheduling of the academic calendar and compliance of faculty attendance be immediately withdrawn”.
The teachers had also opposed the use of biometric machines for marking attendance.
However, the administration said that such matters needed to be handled through following appropriate procedures. The University released a statement in which it said, “ Despite several requests from the JNU administration to JNUTA office-bearers to maintain peace in the campus and not to hold their ‘dharna’ (sit-in) near Administration building, which is a prohibited area for such activities not only by JNU Ordinance but also by the direction of the honourable high court, the JNUTA leadership is holding their ‘dharna’”.
It further appealed to teachers “not to pay heed to JNUTA’s call for a lawless campus” and said they were “setting wrong precedents for students by calling for strikes in prohibited areas”.
Meanwhile, the teachers have alleged that the university administration stopped tents, chairs, mattresses and blankets being brought in for them for the 24-hour hunger-strike on campus.
JNUTA president Atul Sood said, “Tents and other material for our hunger strike were prevented from being brought into campus by the oral order of the V-C/Registrar in the early hours (of Monday). The administration also barricaded the roads to the Administration Block and posted a large number of security personnel to try and prevent the hunger strike from taking place at the designated venue.”
“Threatening teachers for biometric attendance is a violation, in letter and spirit, of the Right to Privacy provided by the judgments of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. These diktats seek to burden teaching-learning in JNU with bureaucratic rules, and make it undignified and disrespectful to teachers. JNUTA has consistently rejected the policy of making teachers mark attendance everyday, which was neither legitimately introduced in the Academic Council nor approved with due process… A signature in a JNU administration’s register is irreverent to the intellectual traditions of JNU and we will not dignify this sacrilege,” Sood further said.