Names on letter on JNU attendance issue but leading scientists say they never endorsed it

Both the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) and the JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) have been protesting against implementation of mandatory attendance for students. In a referendum held Thursday by the JNUSU, 98.47 per cent of about 4,000 students had rejected the system. Read | 98 per cent JNU students vote against attendance rule

On Friday, a group of teachers, led by Professor Atul Johri from the School of Life Sciences, held a press conference condemning the “unruly behaviour” of students during the referendum and circulated a statement purportedly endorsed by 20 scientists and academicians.

Earlier, too, Johri had led a group of teachers who spoke out in favour of the administration’s decision to implement attendance. Chief Proctor Kaushal Kumar Sharma, Finance Officer Heeraman Tiwari and Additional Dean of Students Buddha Singh were among those from the administration present at the conference then.

The statement released Friday read: “We express our gravest concern over continuing disruption of classes and the interruption in the academic calender in JNU by the students’ strike against the proposed minimum attendance requirements. Reputed educational institutions all over the world expect academic accountability, including attendance, on the part of students before degrees are awarded. It is therefore disturbing that a handful of students have forced the university practically to shut down by their agitation against attendance. To demand no attendance whatsoever as a ‘right’ goes against well-established academic principles and practices.”

However, from among list of names underneath the statement, Swaminathan, Sreedharan, Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) Director-General K G Suresh and former Indian Institute of Science Director Goverdhan Mehta told The Indian Express they did not endorse any such statement.

Asked if he had signed any statement on minimum attendance in JNU, Swaminathan said, “No; no statement of any kind. I am not aware of any such attendance; nobody has approached me in this regard.” Sreedharan said, “No I’ve not signed any such statement.”

Suresh said he was out of town since February 26 and was not aware of the statement. “I have nothing to do with the statement, nobody got in touch with me about this,” he said. Mehta said he had received an email regarding this, but did not respond. “I received a request of endorsement a couple of times but I did not respond,” Mehta told The Indian Express.

Director-General of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research Girish Sahni said somebody had contacted him about endorsing the view, to which he had agreed in principle, but he received the exact text of the letter after it had been circulated. Cardiac surgeon M S Valiathan and Director of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services Satheesh Shenoi confirmed that they had signed the statement.

“The statement was sent to me over email about two weeks back and I signed it,” said Shenoi. Valiathan said, “This (attendance) is the minimum requirement for any kind of university education so I signed it.”

When informed by The Indian Express that some scientists had denied signing the statement, Johri said, “How is that possible? Who all have denied it?” He later got back, saying the scientists on that list had clicked on an online link that confirmed their endorsement. JNU Registrar Pramod Kumar said he had no knowledge of the statement or the issue.