Be more communicative with students, faculty, HRD Ministry tells V-C

New Delhi, Jan 08: The HRD Ministry on Wednesday suggested to JNU Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar to become more communicative with students, take faculty into confidence and facilitate the semester registration process, days after violence ran amok on the university campus.

Human Resource Development Ministry officials met Kumar and told him normalcy should be restored at the earliest, a senior ministry official said. The official also said the VC has been advised to be more communicative with students and take the faculty into confidence.

Kumar, who has been severely criticised by students and faculty members for not doing enough when they were brutally attacked by a masked mob on the campus on Sunday evening, told the ministry officials that efforts were being made to facilitate the semester registration process for "willing" students.

"Higher Education Secretary Amit Khare and G C Hosur had a meeting with JNU VC at the ministry today about the efforts being made to restore normalcy on campus. He informed the officials about efforts being made for facilitating semester registration for willing students and a conducive environment for their academic pursuits," the ministry official added.

The VC later took to Twitter to inform about the meeting. On Monday, a day after the violence on JNU campus, JNU Registrar Pramod Kumar visited the ministry and updated the top brass about the situation besides submitting a detailed report of the sequence of events that led to the violence. Kumar did not attend the meeting.

On Tuesday, he urged to students to "put the past behind" and return to studies. "Our heart goes out to all the injured students. The incident (violence) is unfortunate. I would like to tell students that JNU campus is a secure place. I urge all students to come back to the campus. Let us put the past behind," the vice chancellor had said.

A group of masked people armed with sticks attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus on Sunday evening, prompting the administration to call in the police. At least 35 people, including JNU Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh, were injured in the violence. They were admitted to AIIMS Trauma Centre here and discharged on Monday.

The Left-controlled JNUSU and the ABVP have blamed each other for the violence that continued for two hours. That night, the HRD ministry sought an immediate report from the registrar. HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank,' said in Bhubaneswar on Monday that educational institutions cannot be allowed to become "political adda". He vowed "strong action" against the perpetrators of the violence on JNU campus.