‘JNU attendance policy worst among 21 countries’

NEW DELHI: In a report released by Members of Parliament on Friday, Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) initiated a fresh attack against the JNU administration for its implementation of the compulsory attendance system by claiming that in their survey of teachers from 75 universities of 21 countries, they found their attendance policy to be “antithetical to the university’s values.”

JNUTA stated that the JNU administration, “without any consultation with the statutory bodies of the university, unilaterally imposed a new rule for daily attendance for the faculty, starting with daily signing of an attendance register held by the school/centre office. There are plans to soon replace the registers with biometric devices for attendance that are currently being installed across the university.”

This, they say, was never a part of the agenda of the 146th (A) Meeting of the academic council held on July 13.

“The administration has since then been coercing all faculty members to accept this system of control and surveillance by denial of processing of any papers, including those related to leave, medical coverage, fellowships, conferences, and administration of research projects.”

The teachers’ association stated that they had written several letters to the JNU administration, asking for an explanation about the academic logic behind such an exercise in a university that is recognised for its research, teaching and learning environment.

To prove that the policy is wrong, JNUTA, through its members, contacted teachers working in universities/institutions of higher learning to document the practices of academic accountability of faculty members working in university systems across the world. JNUTA got responses from teachers working in 75 highly ranked universities spread across 21 countries. “Almost all teachers who responded to our survey expressed shock and outrage at the new attendance policy instituted by the JNU administration and found the policy to be antithetical to the idea of a university and fostering good teaching and research,” stated JNUTA.