On Saturday, 29 July, DSNLU Vishakhapatnam is set to discuss the future of 81 of its detained students, who are protesting and living in makeshift accommodations outside its gates for one full week now.
The protesting students, now allegedly joined by non-detained students of the law school as well, number over 100 and are demanding:
- A retest of semester exams for 81 detained students.
- A written copy of exam rule amendments based on which they were denied this retest.
The protest began on Friday 18 July, as ANI had first reported.
Inked rule
According to DSNLU’s examination rules, students failing semester exams are given only three re-attempt opportunities: one in the immediately successive semester with their own batch, one in the semester after that with the junior batch, and one attempt two semesters after the semester in which they failed (as part of the repeat exam for the junior batch).
Students failing all three of these successive attempts are not to be promoted to the next year.
For example, students who failed the May 2016 even semester end exam were given their first repeat attempt chance in July 2016, their second in January 2017 and their third and final in July 2017. Students who failed the November 2015 odd semester exam were given their first repeat opportunity in January 2016, their second in July 2016 and their third and final in January 2017.
Discretionary rule
However, DSNLU vice chancellor (VC) Prof Kesava Rao exercised his discretion last year and on 17 July 2017 allowed a fourth attempt at clearing their paper for November 2015 semester detainees, together with the retest for the May 2016 semester detainees.
Therefore, the May 2016 even semester detainees had also won a fourth re-test in January 2018.
Under this special discretionary rule going forward the students, who had failed the November 2016 end semester exams were also expecting a fourth retest to be scheduled in July 2018 alongside the re-exam for the students who had failed the May 2017 even semester.
Challenge to discretionary rule
However, after some students failed at the special fourth re-attempt in July 2017, they challenged the exam itself in the high court as being against the written rules.
The high court ordered DSNLU to not exercise any discretion to deviate from the rules without putting an amendment in place approved by the academic council, Rao told us.
Complying with this high court order, Rao alleged that DSNLU had informed its students in January 2018 that there would be no special re-test in July 2018 for the students who had failed the November 2016 exams since the three re-test attempt opportunities provided under the written rules had already passed for them, and to allow for an additional exam like last year, the rules would first have to be amended with approval from the academic council.
Detention
Therefore, this month while the students who had failed the May 2017 semester were allowed to take their re-exam, no such exam was held for the students who had failed the November 2016 semester.
The students who had first failed in the November 2016 semester ended up being permanently detained and are protesting this allegedly “confusing and unclear” change in rules for which they are demanding a hard copy of the “written amendment”.
They are living in makeshift accommodations outside campus, including tents, tarps and an apartment temporarily rented by a few female students with funds donated by other DSNLU students.
According to Rao, detained students can occupy hostels only after taking re-admission to their course at DSNLU and these students have not yet taken such re-admission.
Comments
Earn the NLU tag. :)
DNLU should take example of premier NLUs like NUJS where passing in exam is no longer needed and detaining is done away with. None of this possible without grace of hon'ble Justice Sir Taluqdar. He has shown the so-called intellegentsia like Mohan Gopal, NL Mitra how to make grand improvement (holistic) to NLUS.
The only thing that is expected here is that a student investing more than 12 lakh for a ballb course gets a decent teacher to teach them. Nothing more nothing less.
And if 81 students are flunking in the exam this actually smells fishy.81 is a huge.
And this is where 'priorities' are important.
Regarding the matter of Professors:-
All the acquisitions that you have pointed out, they have no basis and have no value. When any student had any problem with the professors regarding their way of teaching or command over the topic, students have stood up and questioned them and there was change in faculty too. Students should have no influence in the personal matters of the professors, their relation should be strictly of student and teacher. Regarding the mal-administration that has been going in the university has been reported and is being taken care of too. Professors who have worked in other areas doesn't mean that they have no knowledge over the topic that they are teaching. Students have never had issues with the faculty personallu. The matter of dispute is that, mal-administration and not the character of the professors.
The comments which you are making would only side-track the issue. Expressing what you feel is not a problem but think of all the efforts and the problems students are facing those who are waiting and fighinting for justice. There are many a students in the campus those who have struggled in the beginning and then later picked the pace. This is a second opportunity for them. This will change their mindset towards studies. University in these high times should provide for moral strength and should help students. Failing bulk of students would not improve the standards of varsity. Making the students realize as to how important studies are, will only make the condition correct. You never know what talent a student has. Give the final choice that they are asking and then see the result.
All we are asking for, is an opportunity to make right what we have wronged. Nothing else to speak about. It is fine if you don't want to support the moment but we are fighting for a good cause. So please stop all these false acquisitions and cut some slack towards students.
This is a video on the voicd of dsnlu facebook page.
Look at the way the dean examination is fighting with students that too when the same is being recorded and infront of parents and public. Now imagine what she is capable of doing when no one is around. She is frustrated as hell.
So kindly do a proper background check before commenting and stop calling students rubbish.
I am sure you are one of the faculty members responsible for the blundrr.
Detaining the students was the tipping point that resulted in this drama.
Can u hold the students liable for they were unable to understand basic legal concepts from their below standard teachers who themselves got in through dubious means?
Also, if the students were unable to pass even after 3 attempt did the university remove the concerned faculty member?
Did the university change their teaching methodology as per the requirements of the students who pay lakhs for the entire course?
Let these faculty members play with the lives of students in private institutions and they will be thrown out.
Off course dont give these 80 students another chance but will the University also clean up the administration and the pathetic faculty roll?
Why is it that when the answer scripts are sent out at other institutes for checking that majority of the students pass?
Why did the university put this crazy rule of having 3 retests in the first place?
Also why is it only happening in DSNLU and not else where? I have never heard this happening anywhere else in any college.
Finally make these faculty members answer their own question papers and i am sure most of them will fail.
And if this is the standard DSNLU students have, maybe institutions should look elsewhere.
This is what happens when half researched articles are published and educated people blindly form an opinion without bothering to understand the issue.
Had this been a top tier law school, people would have lauded the efforts of students for standing against maladministration and abuse of power. Just because these students belong to a relatively new NLU, people are going to prejudge their case and that in itself is very heart wrenching.
To fail at the hands of a teacher who has taught you decently well is acceptable.
To fail at the hands of a teacher who lacks knowledge about basic legal concepts and who is unable to deliver a proper 50 minute lecture is unacceptable.
Also kindly explain that when the answer sheets are sent to other Universities for reevaluation, almost all students pass.
I am not one of the persons who got detained but I understand and sympathize with my fellow friends who have been detained.
So, many requests were made for faculty change, but none were ever answered or acted upon.
Where did our money go?
As for poor quality teachers, I'm not disagreeing with your that they need to change. But students should also accept that they aren't doing those teachers any favors by learning the subjects, but to themselves only. Law can be self taught and for the most part, commercial and financial law papers even in NLUs have mostly been self taught only, given the dearth of quality teachers in those subjects. So, no. Failure to secure 40 marks including non-exam components can't be entirely teacher's fault. Had that been the case, everybody would have failed, not some. The first step towards reform is accepting that just like teachers and administration, students also need to improve their quality and work drastically.
I've personally encountered teachers who have no idea of the subject they teach, so clearing their course is a matter of luck. I'd be interested in knowing how many subjects these 81 have failed. Let's analyse this situation a bit before making our judgement call?
We IMPLORE Prachi srivastava to write a genuine article upon our plight. We are being looked at as the bad guys.
The tone, tenor and the body language speaks volumes about the caring and kind way that lady in the video seems to put forth. The humble boys on the other hand are just meaning to make a point.
Yes, the students can not be trusted and do play around with administration but this does not mean that the teachers get agressive and intimidate them by referring to as "their own children". This is unacceptable and does not behove of a teacher of a so called "NLU". Plus stop parenting and start teaching. This would not have happened if the teachers would have come down to the level of children and taught them as per their needs.
You are actually wrong and in recent times i have not heard of a single institution failing so many of its students. Dont talk abt standards please.
Again you just dont get rusticated easily and there is a procedure for same. Do not threaten with rustication without knowing what it means. Dont malign the name of police in this.
Also private institutes are a hundred times better than these new NLU's with naive administrators scuttling free speech in the name of 'our children'.
Lastly, just coz u have NLU tag that does not make u an NLU.
Regarding the number of failures, I'd like to differ. If you take all five years of the LLB programme, most of the NLUs these days (barring 1 or 2 top-tier ones) actually get to see comparable number of failures these days (I'm assuming here too, 81 students are from all 5 years and not a single one). Shows how this multiple repeat examinations concept has backfired and made students lazy and the academic quality eroding from within.
Completely personally, to be honest, the administration has some decent arguments regarding the re-takes here, although it is perhaps at fault for having created that expectation of 4 retakes in the first place.
Regarding general lack of good faculty, etc, I feel for the students, but to be honest that's also a problem in most NLUs...
It seems all the opinionated commenters missed the very first error in the first line of this article.