The Department of German of MS University in Vadodara Thursday witnessed dramatic scenes after students 'locked up' the faculty gates and disallowed the teaching staff and Dean of the Faculty of Arts to enter the premises as they demanded induction of three permanent teachers as per provision. The protest soon escalated into a scuffle between the students and vigilance staff. The students prohibited the single permanent faculty—Jyotsana Phanse—from entering the premises. Holding placards, they alleged that Phanse had been "failing the protesting students in internal examinations out of vengeance". The students claimed that the department, which has a provision for three permanent teachers, has been unable to cope up with the number of students with just one permanent faculty available. "The MSU, which was formed by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III with the vision of imparting the best education to youth, has only gone downhill. While there should have been three teachers inducted as per the provision, there is only one permanent teacher. Most of the students, who have complained about the lack of teachers, were failed in the Core 5 exam of the Department of German that was held last week, while students who are close to the teacher have been cleared," alleged one of the protesting students. The protesters also blocked Dean Adhya Saxena from entering the premises. However, after a lengthy altercation with the students and with the help of the vigilance staff, the Dean had the department gates opened to allow students to appear for the mid-semester examination scheduled. "Many students are facing difficulty because we are short of two more teachers. We tried to conduct interviews three times, but did not receive any applications. We are dependent on visiting faculties. We have been trying to resolve the issue for the past two months. A teacher from outside Gujarat has shown interest and we are communicating with the candidate. Two days ago, we received the approval for the same from the Vice-Chancellor and the Registrar," Dean Saxena told The Indian Express. She, however, denied the allegations that students, who had complained about the lack of staff, were discriminated against and failed. "It is true that post-Covid, many students have not attended classes. We have two visiting faculty members, who are taking regular classes. One of our old visiting faculties discontinued at the beginning of the year due to better opportunities, but we have always been able to get proficient visiting teachers. I have also looked into the attendance of some students, who are using the lack of permanent teachers as an excuse to have their way. Even today, those students, who were prepared for the examinations, have appeared for the same at the Department of German," Saxena said. The faculty also witnessed a protest from students of the first-year Bachelor of Arts (FYBA), who were not allowed to appear for the internal examinations this week due to the lack of the mandatory certificate of the Thalassemia test. "Of the 1,600 students of FYBA, about 1,400 hall tickets were already generated, but 500 students will appear for the additional examinations that are scheduled for next week. About 200 were not given hall tickets because they did not submit the Thalassemia certificate, mandated by the state government. There could also be others, who have not appeared for other reasons.why some students who had their hall tickets also did not appear, but we are a student-friendly university and we will give them the opportunity in the additional exam," the Dean said. MSU Head Centre, which has tied up with The Indian Red Cross for conducting the Thalassemia screening, Thursday also witnessed serpentine queue of students for the mandatory check but several students were turned back as the centre ran out of the mandatory bar code for the testing after distributing forms to the students.
