PaRCha - JNU - DSF SFI-JNU - 2012 ID-57478
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5th October, 2012 .
Friends, .
On the 30th of October the Academic Council of the university is going to meet to make important academic and financial decisions for the upcoming academic year. The meeting is held in two parts Part I where academic decisions are made and Part II where decisions regarding the financial matters are made. Though student representation is restricted to part one, the SFI-JNU believes that serious interventions need to be made in both parts of the meeting to raise the following issues which are of utmost importance to the academic life of JNU students and to protect the socially inclusive character of the university. .
Reduction in the weightage of Viva-Voce marks: .
JNU prides itself on being open to students from all sections of society and especially to students from the socially and educationally deprived sections. Therefore, it is unfortunate that JNU allots a weightage of 30% to the viva voce marks in the entrance examination. As we are all aware, admission to most centres in JNU is based on two components a written examination and a viva. There is a 70% weightage to the marks in the written exam and a 30% weightage to marks in the viva. The 30% weightage to the viva marks is in contravention to a Supreme Court verdict in November 1980 (Ajay Hasia Etc vs Khalid Mujib Sehravardi & Ors. Etc, 13 November, 1980) where a 5 Judge Constitutional Bench found that .
the allocation of more than 15% of the total marks for the oral interview would be arbitrary and unreasonable andwould be liable to be struck down as constitutionally invalid. .
In fact, in another case in the Supreme Court (Ashok Kumar Yadav & Others vs State of Haryana and Others, 1985) a 4 Judge Bench found that even 22.22% marks of the total marks allocated for the viva voce test was infecting the selection process with the vice of arbitrariness. .
Besides, in various centres in JNU, a larger percentage of students are getting either very high or very low marks in the viva voce examination which shows that the viva marks are being used to swing a students chances of getting into the University. .
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In CPS for instance, as of 2011, maximum students have got either very high or very low marks in the viva voce with 50 students getting low scores between 0-12, 20 students getting high scores between 21-30 and as a contrast, only 9 students getting moderate scores of 13-20. .
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There was a similar trend in ZHCES with 47 students getting the lower scores of 0-12, 12 students getting higher scores between 21-30 and as a contrast only 9 students getting moderate scores between 13-20. .
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This kind of tendency shows that the viva voce is being used to subvert the written examination as a way to make sure that a particular student is taken in or that a particular student is not taken in and in that, it has a discriminatory potential and brings in an element of arbitrariness to the admission process. .
Since the last meeting of the Academic Council, the student community has held firmly to its position that the current weightage to the viva voce is discriminatory and that it should be reduced. From a recent report filed by a Committee formed by the Administration to look into whether this weightage is discriminatory, we find that while the marks in the written examination of General and OBC candidates are considerably close, on average, there is a substantial difference between the marks in the viva voce examination of General and OBC candidates. The Casteist forces like the Youth for Equality have held that measures can be taken to ensure that the name of the candidate does not appear on the form etc. However, this is an incorrect understanding of discrimination. Discrimination is not only the deliberate exclusion of students from particular social groups, but also the systemic weeding out of students of socially and educationally deprived sections precisely because of the disadvantages of belonging to these sections whether it is lower confidence in the ability to articulate in English while the written examinations can also be written in Hindi or other such factors. Therefore, the arbitrary weightage to the viva voce marks should be reduced immediately. .
.
.
PaRCha - JNU - DSF SFI-JNU - 2012 ID-57478
.
.
5th October, 2012 .
Friends, .
On the 30th of October the Academic Council of the university is going to meet to make important academic and financial decisions for the upcoming academic year. The meeting is held in two parts Part I where academic decisions are made and Part II where decisions regarding the financial matters are made. Though student representation is restricted to part one, the SFI-JNU believes that serious interventions need to be made in both parts of the meeting to raise the following issues which are of utmost importance to the academic life of JNU students and to protect the socially inclusive character of the university. .
Reduction in the weightage of Viva-Voce marks: .
JNU prides itself on being open to students from all sections of society and especially to students from the socially and educationally deprived sections. Therefore, it is unfortunate that JNU allots a weightage of 30% to the viva voce marks in the entrance examination. As we are all aware, admission to most centres in JNU is based on two components a written examination and a viva. There is a 70% weightage to the marks in the written exam and a 30% weightage to marks in the viva. The 30% weightage to the viva marks is in contravention to a Supreme Court verdict in November 1980 (Ajay Hasia Etc vs Khalid Mujib Sehravardi & Ors. Etc, 13 November, 1980) where a 5 Judge Constitutional Bench found that .
the allocation of more than 15% of the total marks for the oral interview would be arbitrary and unreasonable andwould be liable to be struck down as constitutionally invalid. .
In fact, in another case in the Supreme Court (Ashok Kumar Yadav & Others vs State of Haryana and Others, 1985) a 4 Judge Bench found that even 22.22% marks of the total marks allocated for the viva voce test was infecting the selection process with the vice of arbitrariness. .
Besides, in various centres in JNU, a larger percentage of students are getting either very high or very low marks in the viva voce examination which shows that the viva marks are being used to swing a students chances of getting into the University. .
.
In CPS for instance, as of 2011, maximum students have got either very high or very low marks in the viva voce with 50 students getting low scores between 0-12, 20 students getting high scores between 21-30 and as a contrast, only 9 students getting moderate scores of 13-20. .
.
.
There was a similar trend in ZHCES with 47 students getting the lower scores of 0-12, 12 students getting higher scores between 21-30 and as a contrast only 9 students getting moderate scores between 13-20. .
.
.
This kind of tendency shows that the viva voce is being used to subvert the written examination as a way to make sure that a particular student is taken in or that a particular student is not taken in and in that, it has a discriminatory potential and brings in an element of arbitrariness to the admission process. .
Since the last meeting of the Academic Council, the student community has held firmly to its position that the current weightage to the viva voce is discriminatory and that it should be reduced. From a recent report filed by a Committee formed by the Administration to look into whether this weightage is discriminatory, we find that while the marks in the written examination of General and OBC candidates are considerably close, on average, there is a substantial difference between the marks in the viva voce examination of General and OBC candidates. The Casteist forces like the Youth for Equality have held that measures can be taken to ensure that the name of the candidate does not appear on the form etc. However, this is an incorrect understanding of discrimination. Discrimination is not only the deliberate exclusion of students from particular social groups, but also the systemic weeding out of students of socially and educationally deprived sections precisely because of the disadvantages of belonging to these sections whether it is lower confidence in the ability to articulate in English while the written examinations can also be written in Hindi or other such factors. Therefore, the arbitrary weightage to the viva voce marks should be reduced immediately. .
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.