First year Jamia students start #reopen Jamia, declare boycotting online classes
Jamia Millia Islamia students have said they have started a campaign in the virtual world for the reopening of the university. “Boycotting online classes from today in solidarity with 26+ JMI departments! if all other universities can reopen, why not jamia? #reopenJMI #reopenjamia #jamiamilliaislamia,” read some of the messages on Twitter.
In a statement issued by the students, they talk about boycott of online class by first year students of Jamia.
“The students of Jamia have tried every means available to make themselves heard, by appealing to the administration, submitting memorandums to their respective HODs, and protesting and yet the administration has let us down by not standing with the promises they made. The students of Jamia have collectively and with strong majority decided to boycott online classes from April 11 onwards until the following demands are met,” they said in the release.
They have demanded complete reopening of the campus and resumption of offline classes for all UG and PG courses. Besides, the students have demand for issuance of a notice for hostel allotment. And issuing a proper academic calendar till or before Eid (May 2-3), they said.
Students from 26 departments boycotted online classes Monday, said a first-year student.
The departments which boycotted classes included Economics, History, Sociology, Psychology, Geography, Biotech, Physics, Aeronautics, Unani pharmacy, Mass Media, BBA, English, French, Urdu, Persian, Spanish, Turkish, Arabic, Islamic Studies and so on, the statement mentioned.
The students said they have collected responses via Google Forms and various means of online voting, reflecting a clear majority in favour of offline classes.
“However at this point, it is not a case of majority or minority, but about the normalcy sought after an ease in the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions,” they said.
In their statement, students said the National Disaster Management Authority had “discontinued Covid-19 containment measures from March 31 onwards”, and that they were “unable to comprehend the reasons behind the delay in resumption for offline classes” for the remaining batches.
“Therefore, we as bonafide students of Jamia demand clarity from the authorities. We seek an update on the status of notices that were promised to come in 3-4 days following the protest on March 31,” they said.
Earlier, too some students had protested physically for reopening of the university in March.
On February 14, Jamia had announced that for the time being, the university would shift to offline classes only for final semester/year students. While classes for postgraduate students shifted to offline mode on March 2, whereas for undergraduate students the shift was made on March 15, reported IE.
