JNUSU, admin spar over circular advising students to go home

Students’ union feels that travelling at this time put lives at risk

Jawaharlal Nehru University on Monday “strongly advised” students living in its hostels to go home and return after the university reopens on June 25.

In a circular, the Dean of Students said that many students requested to stay back in hostels due to non-availability of public transport during the lockdown. But now, as special trains and intra-State bus services have become operational, they are advised to return home.

The JNUSU responded to the circular saying that the administration was trying to put students at risk by making them travel home at a time when the number of cases is rising.

Since the pandemic sees no signs of slowing down, it questioned why the administration intended to make students undergo the hardship of travelling twice in the space of a month and endanger their lives further.

Responding to the JNUSU, the university said that some self-proclaimed student leaders always make it a point to oppose any advisory that comes from the administration and give an ideological colour to it.

“The same attempt has yet again been made to play politics, to give convoluted interpretations and discourage the willing students to go home,” the university administration said.