Days after some students’ peaceful protest for reopening of Jamia Millia Islamia citing that many universities have opened their doors for students after Covid cases have decreased across India Jamia Millia Islamia posted an office order on its social media regarding its decision to reopen the university.
It was in March 2020 when Jamia was closed following the outbreak of Covid in India.
A two-page notice issued on February 14 carrying signature of Jamia Registrar Nazim Husain Jafri on Monday is online.
“The university has limited seats in the boys and girls hostels and the hostel buildings are being either renovated or under maintenance. Taking into consideration the Covid-19 protocol, it is not possible or advisable to provide residential accommodation till Covid protocol exists,” said Jafri.
Earlier in a press release issued to the media, protesting students said they submitted a memorandum to the university administration putting forward their demands.
It mentioned: “Jamia administration has neither taken any stand nor released any notification with regards to the reopening of the university. Through this, what we, the students of Jamia, understood is that the administration is not at all concerned about the needs of students.”
It also said: “By keeping the campus closed, the university administration is completely depriving the students, their right to equal education. That’s why, we demand immediate reopening of the University campus, including central library and all departmental libraries, xerox points, canteens, hostels and internet facilities. If our demands are not accepted, the students will be organising massive campaigns, sit-in protests and class boycotts for reclaiming our campus. So, we are demanding you to accept our demands and immediately reopen Jamia.”
Earlier following students’ protest Vice Chancellor Najma Akhtar told the media that the university will be reopened in a phased manner, starting with the dental department, where the practical classes cannot be taken online nor its exams can be held in an online mode.
Akhtar said earlier: “We have no intention to keep the university closed. We had a meeting with the deans and other officials on February 8 regarding this issue where the teachers said they were not ready to take the students in a bunch. Even students are also not ready to attend offline classes as of now.”
She said: “Reopening of the university is gradually planned. We don’t want the students to be troubled once they enter the campus. We have to be clear that they are through with the RT-PCR test and are fully vaccinated before they return. We will give students 10 days so that they can prepare to return. There are students in Kerala, Kashmir who can’t return without booking tickets.”
Akhtar emphasised that she doesn’t want the IIM Ahmedabad incident, where faculty and staff members had got infected with Covid all at once, to be repeated at Jamia. It is important to point out here that several Jamia professors and staff members lost their lives after getting infected from Covid.
“A lot of preparations are required before we reopen the university. Our hostels have been shut for two years and they are in bad shape now. Considering the Covid situation, we will not be able to give hostel facility to all, even to the former occupants. We will allow only one student in each room to avoid any infection. Similarly, all classes will not open at the same time,” said Akhtar.
Talking about the protest on the campus, Akhtar, said: “It is the first time any such protest has taken place at the campus. These students may not be from Jamia because our students are taking online exams.”
The protest was organised by student organisations like AIRSO, AISA, AISF, CFI, DISSC, SFI and SIO.
SIO president Hammad Khan, student of International Studies, said: “By keeping the campus closed, the university administration is depriving students their right to equal education. That’s why we demand immediate reopening. If our demands are not accepted, the students will organise massive campaigns. We have sought response from the concerned officials till February 11.”
All India Students’ Association (AISA)—Delhi unit tweeted on Wednesday, saying: “Why has there been a silence over this demand to reopen the Jamia. JNU has resumed its offline classes, DU has also announced to reopen it from next week, then why not Jamia?”
