Despite all the nuisance, JNU managed to secure the top spot
By Sahil Kaushal Siyasat.net
New Delhi: Someone has rightly said that “pen is the most powerful weapon.” This statement was justified for Jamia Millia Islamia and Jawahar Lal Nehru University earlier this week. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan released the National Institutional Ranking Framework list of the top universities and colleges for eleven categories. The Jawahar Lal Nehru University secured 2nd rank in the top universities category, and Jamia and AMU secured 6th and 10th positions respectively in the same category.
It was a known fact that these universities have high standards of education for all sections of society. But, the significance of securing good ranks in the list is that about a year ago, a narrative was built to defame these universities, especially Jamia and Aligarh Muslim University. Both these universities came under controversy when the students of these universities protested against the CAA and NRC peacefully on the campus premises.
Last year, Jamia was the center of attraction of the whole country when the student protest gathered the attention of millions of people through news and television.
Students of universities like JNU, AMU, and several others also joined the protests. A section of media that has submitted to the establishment and has nothing to do with ground reporting ran stories from their lavish newsrooms about how students have distanced themselves from education and indulged in politics. Some senior editors also named the students terrorists.
The limit was when the union government deployed CAPFs to suppress the protest. We all saw the visuals and how brutally they treated students. Being an ex-alumnus of JMI, it was really heartbreaking to see such visuals on the television. To break the spirit of students, some union ministers and spokespeople of the ruling party chanted slogans against the university and called them anti-nationals. Every possible attempt was made to malign the image of the university; even gunshots were fired by a man in the presence of police. Later he turned out to be an activist of the ruling party and was awarded for what he did. But salute to the courage and spirit of the students that they didn’t bow down.
Despite all the problems and obstacles the university faced, it was able to secure 6th position in the NIRF rankings 2021. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Najma Akhtar, said, “this achievement is all the more significant because of the challenging time the country and university have been facing due to COVID-19 pandemic and also in the light of the increased competition in the ranking.” The credit must be given to the teachers, administration, and especially to the students for this achievement. The VC also added that the perception of the university with regard to teaching, research, placement, etc., has also improved.
Jamia also improved in the overall ranking list, securing the 13th position; its previous year was 16th in the same category. As far as JNU is concerned, it also faced some backlash and violence last year when a group of goons entered the premises and attacked students’ union leaders and some teachers. Likewise, the goons turned out to be members of the ruling party. Despite all the nuisance, JNU managed to secure the top spot
(The author is based in New Delhi. A writer by profession who presents his commentary on political affairs. Views are personal)
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