NU in trouble

The students, some of whom were injured, have alleged that employees of the university pounced on them with the support of student wing activists of the ruling party. The law enforcers are reported to have sided with the employees and some students were detained and released later. On the other hand, the VC of the university has said that the demonstrators went on the rampage and kidnapped some NU officials and released them later.

The truth must lie somewhere in the maze of the accusations and counter accusations. But certain things are pretty clear. First, the demonstration was based on matters purely academic and it is difficult to trace political ramifications in it. Second, the students have been agitating for quite a long time over what appear to be grievances that merited urgent attention of the authorities. They have demanded revision of the syllabus to make it comparable to that of other universities; introduction of the tutorial and assignment system; timely publishing of results; and appointment of qualified teachers for their courses. None of the demands sound unreasonable. Such demands cannot be trifled with by recourse to trading of blames. These should have been addressed well in time by coordinating efficiently with the ministry concerned so that the situation didn't snowball the way it has.

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The NU authorities should have looked into some of the anomalies in the system that have had a crippling effect on the academic career of students.

Now, the problem has been dragged too far and it has all the makings of spreading into affiliated colleges, the NU being an umbrella organisation. It has to be resolved through a process of dialogue and consultation between the representatives of the general body of students, teachers and university authorities before it aggravates to a point beyond redemption. At some stage, government might have to step in to set things right at the umbrella university, which is responsible for the planning, management and implementation of education programmes in a large number of affiliated colleges.