JNU Rebuffs Fee Hike Rumours
The protests in JNU regarding fee hike, abolition of lateral entry programme of BA and de-linking M.Phil and Ph.D courses continue. JNUSU threatens to intensify the protest if the authorities do not take their considerations.
On 15th March 2019, Friday, the Jawaharlal Nehru University rebuffed all the claims of its students’ union of a hike in the fee by 300 percent. It said that the fee remains the same as it was the previous year. There was a protest by the students’ union on 14th March 2019, Thursday, in which they had said that the university had increased the prospectus fee by 300%, de-linked the integrated MPhil-PhD programme and closed the BA lateral entry programme of the School of Languages.
JNU stated that this widespread misinformation had left the university aghast. It was a collection of rumours spread by some self-styled student leaders of the varsity. There is no hike in the prospectus fee and the application fee remains the same as last year’s.
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Unlike previous years, JNU will be conducting the exam in 127 centres this year instead of 70 centres to provide students with easier access. This exam is conducted by JNU in collaboration with the National Testing Agency (NTA). It will be taken in online mode this year onwards and will have multiple choice questions which will make it free of any discrimination.
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The university further said that closing down BA lateral entry programme and de-linking the M.Phil and Ph.D programmes are the decisions that were made after serious contemplation of the Executive Council and the Academic Council. De-linking M.Phil and Ph.D programmes is going to be in the best interest of students as they can now enroll for a Ph.D programme right after doing their M.Sc or MA.
The JNUSU has said that they will continue fighting against the delinking of MPhil and Ph.D programmes, the online entrance examination and termination of BA second year lateral entry. They have given 48 hours to the vice-chancellor of JNU to take the considerations of the students and teachers and have threatened that they will intensify the struggle and start an indefinite strike.