Jamia Millia Islamia has moved all courses to online mode as protests on campus enter their third week. Students demand the restoration of the students’ union, which the university dissolved in 2006.The university announced the decision in a notice on Oct. 24. The notice states the university will hold classes online with immediate effect until further notice. The administration said the step protects the safety and security of bonafide students on campus. It also told faculty members to support the shift. Teachers must provide academic support and learning materials to students.
Students began the protest on Oct. 12. Several videos reportedly surfaced online on Oct. 24. They purportedly show the removal of a protest camp at Gulistan-i-Ghalib garden, near Gate no. 7. The footage also appears to show students being asked to disperse.
Ebin Basil, a 22-year-old student, has been on hunger strike since Oct. 12. He said dozens of professors and the registrar held talks with protesters. The discussions ended without a satisfactory outcome, he said. Basil said security guards removed the tent on the administration’s directions. Guards then moved the hunger strikers into the Faculty of Economics building and called an ambulance to detain them. He said students outside the building did not let that happen.
Saurabh Tripathi, a student protester and Jamia secretary of the All India Students’ Association, criticised the move.