#handsoffJU after #hokkolorob; Social media abuzz with protests on scrapping of Jadavpur University admission tests

Hundreds of alumni, students and teachers of Jadavpur University Department of English took to social media to express anger and shock at the university authorities’ decision to scrap the existing system of conducting admission tests. The Executive Council on Wednesday decided to do away with admission tests this year completely. To clear the EC’s decision a meeting of the Admissions Committee has been called again tomorrow.

Meanwhile, students refused to allow the Vice Chancellor, Suranjan Das, to leave his room, and were discussing whether to organise a gherao in protest.

With the situation grim, social media was abuzz for the past 24 hours with students and teachers angry and despondent. On social media, #handsoffJU #hokkolorob and #insolidaritywithJU #JUAdmissionTest #handsoffJUadmissions were some of the hashtags used by hundreds of students – both current and the alumni – current teachers and former professors based in Kolkata and outside.

Das has said earlier that the state advocate-general was of the opinion that the board of studies and teachers should be dissociated from the admission process. But teachers demand that the admission test question pattern be kept unchanged. There are fears that multiple-choice-questions may be introduced in the tests.

Yesterday Professor Emeritus Sukanta Chaudhuri said there was growing corruption in college admission (in the state) over the past five years and doing away with the current admission procedure wasn’t going to be a good idea under this backdrop.

The outrage and anger – leading to protests online and in the Jadavpur University campus – was reminiscent of #hokkolorob (let there be noise) – a students’ movement in 2014. In 2014, police entered the JU campus, students were beaten and dragged and women were molested and groped as they were protesting, demanding the resignation of the then VC.

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What were the teachers, current students and the alumni discussing on social media about the efficacy of the admission tests? Here are some social media posts:

Rimi B. Chatterjee, Professor at Jadavpur University, wrote on her Facebook page: “Currently it looks like there is very little hope of salvaging the original JU admissions process from the inexplicable desire of the university authorities to rip it to shreds.

For the past ten days or so, the university authorities have been suddenly and without warning acting as if they have lost all faith in the ability of JU teachers to conduct their own admission tests. However, not one single person has been able to point to any allegations, complaints or evidence of wrongdoing on our parts. What therefore is the basis of the university’s crisis of confidence in the process?”

Sreyashi Dastidar, JU department of English alumna, wrote on Facebook, “…most colleges followed screening methods based either on aggregate marks, or a combination of aggregate marks and admission test scores (in most cases that I remember, the HS [Higher Secondary] total carried greater weightage than the admission test). In other words, I was not exactly spoilt for choice.

Jadavpur University’s Department of English was my only hope, since they evaluated and admitted students based solely on their performance in the admission test. But the test was notoriously tough and quirky, and we were a generation maimed by the Left Front government’s decision to teach English as a clerical tool rather than a language in which literature was written.

What I discovered when I appeared for the test, with my confidence and self-esteem at their lowest, was that the test was fun. Because it wasn’t set by a bunch of sadists who wanted to throw obscure literary terms and quotes from Shakespeare to stump wet-behind-the-ear students. There were 15 or 20 questions from which you had to choose only four or five in each section… Anyone who has appeared for the JUDE admission test knows that it is designed to sieve out people who are curious about the world they inhabit and are not interested in learning by rote.

Jadavpur University and the Department of English changed my life in more ways than I can count, and this would not have been possible without the admission test. And it is this extraordinary exercise in transparent evaluation that is under threat today. If we care about raising a generation which can think originally and respond to socio-cultural developments independently, we should be very worried, and make our voices heard. Don’t let them take away one of the few remaining ways for the university to ensure merit above all else. #JUAdmissionTest”

Alumna Mrittika Sen, who lives in New Jersey, wrote: “This reflects the celebration of mediocrity in every sphere of life that is being propagated and perpetuated by the current state government… The study of Humanities is not like the study of hard sciences. It is not data-based, and cannot be evaluated through multiple-choice questions or marks acquired through the largely-unreliable grading systems in diverse school-leaving examinations…

I received a second Masters in Communication Studies from The Ohio State University and a PhD in Communication Studies from Northwestern University, both premier institutions in the US and the world. In both institutions, and in most schools and colleges here, the admission of students is based solely upon the discretion and decision of the respective departments. For undergraduate admission, there’s SAT scores, but that can largely be compared to the unanimous school-leaving examinations.

We’re away from Kolkata, but never far when the autonomy and integrity of the department is threatened.”

Alumnus Syamantakshobhan Basu wrote: “Merit has to be identified, encouraged and nurtured, even where it is not apparent. When the state government and its lackeys want to scrap admission tests and replace them with ‘merit’, what do they really want? To deprive poor, deserving students without the benefits of money or private coaching! To deny the mavericks, the free thinkers, the ones who can improve the system by thinking outside it! To fill their coffers with cash and Jadavpur with mediocrity! It cannot be allowed.”

Abhijit Gupta, head of the department, English, thanked those present at Jadavpur University on Tuesday. “A huge number of alumni, current students, ex-teachers, current faculty and staff turned up at JU this evening to speak up for the university’s autonomy. No words are enough to express our thanks to those who came, and those who sent their support from afar. We will need your support even more in the days to come. Stay with us!” he wrote.