University politics should be student-centric, not engage in political party agendas: NBA chairman

New Delhi [India], Jan 13 (ANI): National Board of Accreditation (NBA) chairman KK Aggarwal on Sunday asserted that protests at government universities were hampering academic work and said that student politics should be student-centric rather than being agendas of political parties.
"Student politics at universities should be centred on student issues and their rights. If the students have genuine demands, it is our responsibility to listen to hear them out and help them. However, it is a matter of loss for the entire country if the students are engaged in the agendas of political parties," Aggarwal told ANI.
Over 200 academicians, including Aggarwal, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged him to intervene in the protests taking place in various educational institutions across the country.
"The concern is that universities are created for education and for the welfare of the country. However, academic work is often halted at these government and central universities for days and sometimes for months due to protests or other reasons," Aggarwal said.
"At JNU, students and teachers have been protesting and academic work has been halted. If the students, professors, and administration are engaged in other activities, it defeats the basic purpose of these educational institutes," he added.
Aggarwal, former vice-chancellor of Indraprastha (IP) University said that we have to ensure that academic work is not hampered in Central universities.
"As per the police investigation report into the violence at Jawaharlal Nehru Universities, it looks like the violence was fueled by the left students," he said.
In the letter, the academicians stated that the recent agitations have led to the disruption of academic activities and day to day functioning of these institutions and university campuses are being turned into "islands of ossified worldviews."
The top academicians and vice-chancellors also said that such things were not only leading to violence between different sections of students but also intolerance against the teachers and intellectuals.
This comes after as many as 36 students were injured during the violence in the JNU campus after a masked mob entered the varsity and assaulted students with sticks and rods. (ANI)