In a significant decision, one of the most elite universities of the country, Jadavapur University has decided to scrap admission test for six subjects in undergraduate courses for this year, reports Zee 24 Ghanta. After a massive controversy over last few weeks and an inconclusive meet yesterday, the decision was taken on Wednesday's executive committee meeting. The six subjects are Bengali, Philosophy, English, Political Science, Comparative Literature and History.
"There will be no admission test to any of the six arts subjects. The entrance tests announced earlier have been cancelled," JU Registrar Chiranjib Bhattacharya told reporters after a meeting of the Executive Committee (EC), the highest decision-making body of the university.
"In the present impasse there was little possibility of conducting entrance tests by addressing the concerns of our teachers. Keeping that in mind, and in view of the uncertainties faced by thousands of candidates, we decided to go by the marks criteria only for this year," he said.
The decision comes close to heels of the West Bengal government repeatedly putting pressure on the university to induct students on merit basis. The government said that a single criterion should be applicable for all. "We had suggested that the admission of students' should be made in line with the admissions of other faculties. Now, the varsity should take the call," said Education Minister Partha Chatterjee on Tuesday.
JU Arts stream was looking to induct students based on a written exam and even notification was released regarding the test.
The JU authorities had declared a new '50-50 formula' last week, which proposed eligibility in humanities streams to be based on 50 per cent of the total marks obtained in admission tests, and 50 per cent of the total marks secured by a candidate in board examinations. Now, the exam is set to be scrapped post the decision taken by the JU working committee.
VC Suranjan Das had said on Monday that the new admission procedures to six humanities streams, involving external experts for setting of question papers, were framed after taking the suggestion of legal experts. The Arts Faculty Students' Union (AFSU) had organised a 44-hour sit-in since June 25, demanding immediate declaration of admission tests to the six humanities streams.
The decision hasn't gone down well with section of the students. As soon as they got to know of it, they started protesting in front of the VC and registrar.
Student protest is only likely to increase in the coming days after authorities decision to completely do away with admission test. Many critics believe that this will lead to dilution of the standard of Jadavpur University, which has always been a torchbearer of education in West Bengal.
With PTI inputs
