What Is Happening At Dr B R Ambedkar NLU

Background

• The students at the Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Law University boycotted the classes in the last week of April.
• As per the students, their complaints and grievances were not being acknowledged by the University.
• 4 Class Representatives from the senior-most batch of 2024 have resigned, one of the reasons being that there’s only one-way communication of important information from the university, either orally or through WhatsApp groups in response to the students’ written grievances.
• After the boycott and the resignation, the University finally took notice of the matter and arranged a meeting with the students on May 5.
• Plenty of concerns of the students came out in the meeting – non-publication of results, infrastructure issues, ad-hoc faculty, their quality, poor grievance redressal, lack of proper communication, etc.

Demands of the Students & University’s Responses

• The students asked for Institutional IDs. On that, the Vice-Chancellor said that in today’s world, WhatsApp is also a formal way of communication since people use it more than emails and that the people at higher levels use it too. But later on, they agreed to give the students institutional IDs.
• The students also complained that they have limited access to Manupatra and SCC Online which is not sufficient. The Vice-Chancellor responded that what is provided is sufficient for academic purposes and moots, etc.
• Till now, the University has only provided the students with the first semester results, and when students that it is making their loan applications and internships difficult, the University questioned, why do you need results when you have ID cards? After stressing the importance of the results, the University held that they will try publishing the results soon.
• One of the main concerns of the Students was that during the online exams, the answers got marked without choosing them. There were instances that after 5 minutes of starting the exam, the portal showed the exam status as completed. University called the technician who said that the portal worked fine, but on pushing the matter further, the University agreed to look into it.
• The students further added that they required better faculty. They said that they weren’t understanding what was being taught and that the teachers were without any particular specialization. This topic was discussed at length and the VC finally agreed to look into the matter herself.

Other issues

• The students complained about moral policing on campus. The rulebook of the college makes it clear that students are required to dress decently on and outside the campus. According to a source, the girls have come acrossinstances of their pictures being clicked and informally reported if they were found wearing shorts. This has also happened if a boy and a girl were roaming on the campus together.It is reported that there is differentiation done between a boy and a girl.
• On April 26, the University held a pooja and a hawan and according to the source, no one followed the covid 19 protocols, no one was wearing masks and no one was practicing social distancing. Public universities should idyllicallyabstain from religious acts. However, if they have to do it, they must do so inclusively.
• Initially, the University said that it would give 4 options for languages – French, German, Hindi, and Sanskrit. However, the university cancelled French and German leaving the students with just two options and those who haven’t learned Hindi and Sanskrit at a disadvantage.
• Regarding the teaching faculty issue mentioned earlier, the students informed that the college often adjusts the subjects to suit the teachers, not the other way around.

Do you think what the students of DBRANLU are doing is right?