After a week of protests by students, Jadavpur University authorities on Tuesday decided to restore admission tests for six undergraduate courses in the humanities stream, Hindustan Times reported. Students, however, continued to protest as the executive council has yet to decide whether the entrance tests will be conducted by the university’s teachers or an external body.

The decision to restore the admission tests was taken after an emergency meeting of the institution’s executive council on Tuesday evening, reported The Indian Express. The council decided that the university would follow the earlier system of giving 50-50 weight to marks scored in Class 12 and the entrance exam for admission.

Advertisement

Vice Chancellor Suranjan Das, however, said he was against the executive council’s decision. “The pro-vice chancellor [Pradip Kumar Ghosh] and I are not a party to this resolution,” The Times of India quoted Das as saying. “It is not possible to run the university in this manner. I will speak to the chancellor and urge that he relieve the pro-VC and me of our responsibility.”

Students and teachers of the university have been protesting since July 6, two days after the administration decided to scrap entrance tests for the six undergraduate courses this academic year, and enrol students solely on the basis of their Class 12 board exam marks.

Meanwhile, two of the 20 members of the Arts Faculty Students’ Union who have been on a hunger strike for the past four days have been hospitalised, university authorities said.

A public interest litigation against the students who are on a hunger strike is likely to come up for hearing before the Calcutta High Court on Thursday, reported The Indian Express. The petitioner, Rama Prasad Sarkar, said the agitation was hampering educational activities at the university.