Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is planning to bring back the most unique feature of its admissions policy – the deprivation point model – for PhD students, Vice Chancellor S D Pandit has said. The university had developed a disadvantaged point model to help students from backward areas, especially women, to take admission.
Vice-Chancellor Shantisree said that the university is working on adopting hybrid education and working internationally to supplement its income, which is essential to overcome some of the Rs 130 deficit that the university is suffering from. We want to go for e-learning, or online learning, because we have a deficit of Rs 130 crore and we cannot expect everything to come from the Centre, – she said.
There has been a long-standing demand of students and teachers to restore the deprived model. In an interview with PTI on Wednesday, Vice-Chancellor Shantisree said the university is reintroducing the deprivation point model for “inclusiveness and equality” on the campus.
It was closed a few years ago under the leadership of former vice-chancellor of the university M.J. Kumar amid sharp condemnation by a section of students.
Asked about the increasing reporting of incidents of sexual harassment from campus, Shantisree said her administration has been “very proactive” in investigating such cases. He said, ‘Whatever cases come to the ICC, we take them forward.
We have already started implementing it (NEP) in Indian languages, also a multiple entry and exit system, which is great for the students. We separated the school of Indian languages from the school of languages.
We are going to bring back the deprivation point for PhD students, because our reserved categories of seats do not fill up. I come from a reserved category; I want to see it implemented…especially for women from reserved category. We want inclusivity and equality. He added, – We are the only university in the country that gives these disadvantaged points and that is why we have become unique.
JNU runs some great programs, so we will have hybrid learning. We want to go international; we are getting a lot of requests from foreign universities. On the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020, the VC said that the university has separated the school of Indian languages from the language school and has also initiated the process for a multiple entry and exit system, which would allow students Leave the course and re-join even after a few years.
The ICC or Internal Complaints Committee was constituted by the JNU administration in 2017 to deal with sexual harassment and related matters. The VC said the university is also planning to install CCTV cameras in the women’s hostel and enclose the campus with a 10-feet high wall. The administration has issued a new security tender, she said, to replace the agency currently in charge of security of the premises.
