RONO HILLS, Oct 20: The Rajiv Gandhi University Students’ Union (RGUSU) has requested the RGU to reconsider its decision to shortlist students on merit (percentage) for admission to various postgraduate and undergraduate courses in the 2020-21 session.
In a letter to the RGU vice chancellor, the union on Tuesday appealed to the university authority to “conduct the entrance test in a blended (online/offline) mode instead of merit, in the larger interest of the students.”
As per the admission notification of 19 October, the university has invited applications through the online mode for admission through merit to various programmes/courses offered by RGU in the 2020-21 academic session.
Admission to MPhil and PhD courses will be based on entrance tests.
“Based on the appraisal of the decision and the grievances of the students, the decision to adopt merit-based admission stands invalid in the larger interest of the students. A decision in a university or in a college should be made in conjunction with the students,” the RGUSU said, and
informed that the “students have been preparing hard for the entrance test.”
The RGUSU also highlighted that many central universities, such as “Jawaharlal Nehru University, the University of Delhi, the Jamia Millia Islamia University, the Aligarh Muslim University, the Central University of Assam, etc, are conducting entrance-based examinations for the 2020-21 session.”
“Many other competitive exams, such as the APPSCCE and the NET, are also being conducted this year itself. The North Eastern Regional Institute of Science & Technology, which is situated in our state, also successfully conducted its common entrance test recently (17 and 18 October),” it said.
The union pleaded with the RGU authority “not to undermine the advantage of entrance exams for which a majority of the students are preparing. Marks are just numbers and not the true talent of a student.”
In the meantime, the union reiterated its demand for conducting supplementary examination for the current session on humanitarian grounds.
The RGUSU said that it would have to resort to democratic protest on the university campus if its demands are not met.
