No final decision on jumping, RTMNU to send views to Chancellor

The meeting of Academic Council of Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University on Tuesday could not reach to any final decision regarding jumping in engineering faculty. Meanwhile, it has been decided that the views expressed by the members in the meeting would be sent to Chancellor.
The dispute about jumping (or allowing engineering students to appear for examination by relaxing criterion) is going on since last one year after Academic Council sent amendment in ordinance suggesting relief for engineering students. It was sent by the Chancellor to Government. Government had sent it back to Chancellor office by registering no objection. Chancellor rejected the same but sent the same to RTMNU Academic council.
It may be recalled that the students have been demanding an increased “carry on”/jumping” or an increased ATKT facility in order to appear in the exams. These students had also unsucessfully approached the Court since they had backlog subjects and were admitted to the Higher Class on the basis of a notification of the University dated September 13, 2013. The University framed this notification to provide admission facility to the students, who were still to clear their subject, to a higher semester.
In the meantime, Anoop Kumar Acting V-C had constituted the committee which gave a report saying that relief can not be given to these students. On Tuesday the issue was discussed at length.
Anoop Kumar said that the root cause should be find out. He also opined that Academic Council must consider the serious question of expediting the valuation and revaluation process and reduce the number of days taken for revaluation process. For this, the remedies like on-line valuation, computerisation can be made. RTMNU has already approved the post of Director (exam reforms) to bring the reforms suggested by IT Secretary Rajesh Aggarwal committee and Anoop Kumar showed a keen interest in it. Anoop Kumar said in the meeting that instead of looking in the past, university should move ahead.

Basic Chemistry in Home Science

Earlier faculty had removed Basic Chemistry subject from Home Science course. This has made the teachers of Chemistry as surplus. These teachers went to Court and got relief. Now the subject was included again. It was removed from B.Sc (Home Science).

250-Banned college issue

The issue of 250-banned college has been haunting university since long. This issue once again come up for discussion. Some of the members suggested that examination of the students should be conducted. Dr Baban Taywade aggressively put the side of 250-banned colleges. But V-C Anoop Kumar clearly told the house that the matter was sub judice and no decision can be taken on it. He pointed that there was some misunderstanding on the issue and RTMNU would approach the High Court to seek more clarification.

Committees on issue of teaching staff in
professional and non-professional courses

Academic Council discussed the issue of number of teachers needed in professional and non-professional courses at length. The minimum requirement is one teacher for every 15 students. But right now, even this minimal requirement is not being fulfilled by most of the colleges. Because of this the quality of valuation is also getting marred, opined Anoop Kumar.
To find out a permanent solution on this issue two committees under Dr Kirtivardhan Dixit (professional courses) and Dr Vinayak Deshpande (non-professional course) have been constituted. These committees will file their report by May 30.

The Jumping Controversy

The notification dated September 13, 2013 was framed because the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) had changed the syllabus, pattern of examination. Therefore it was imperative for the University to abide by the same. Thus in order facilitate and help the repeater students, the notification laid down a specific scheme. On the strength of this notification these students were permitted to step into higher class, despite the fact they were not eligible to enter into the higher class. This facility was granted because of the transition from the old course to the new course. Further the old course was to be discontinued in a two Academic years.
These students upon getting admission to the Higher Semester, also cleared their backlog in Winter 2013 examination. The students mostly belonging to third, fourth, fifth, sixth semester were the beneficiary of this notification. These students upon clearing their backlog started demanding that they be permitted to appear in the Summer 2014 examination because they are prosecuting regular studies or they be provided with increased “carry on”/jumping” or an increased ATKT facility in order to regularise there admissions to the Higher class. It is in these circumstances, the University Administration was forced to frame the new jumping notification published by the University on March 11, 2014 and an amendment relaxing the norms was subsequently stayed by the Chancellor. The High Court also refused to grant any respite to students and Chancellor and newly appointed acting V-C also refused to dilute eligibility norms.