JNU set to propose compulsory Hindi for UG, teachers and students oppose move

In JNU, the undergraduate courses are either B.Tech or BA language courses such as Arabic, French, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Japanese, German, Persian, Pashto and Korean.
UGC Secretary Rajnish Jain told The Indian Express that the letter in October was sent to JNU and “some other universities” to “seek their views”. “It is not mandatory in nature. We just wrote seeking views because some minister had asked if this can be done,” he said.

JNU Rector Chintamani Mahapatra said, “No such decision has been taken.” He did not respond to further queries. JNUSU representatives have also been called by the administration to attend Friday’s meeting, after not being sent an invite for successive AC meetings citing disciplinary cases against them.

The JNU Students’ Union asked that the agenda item be dropped. JNUSU president N Sai Balaji said, “It must be reiterated that India does not have a national language. Rather, the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India lists 22 official languages in accordance with the diverse and plural nature of our country…This is an affront and violation not only of the plural nature of JNU, but also of the principles enshrined in the Indian Constitution.”

“At a time when popular pressure has forced the BJP government to revise its Draft Education Policy and three-language formula, this underhand imposition of Hindi in JNU by the V-C is shameful,” he added.

JNU Teachers’ Association secretary Avinash Kumar said: “The administration may say it’s only at proposal stage, but going by precedents, everything proposed in the AC meeting is passed as it is. Moreover, when the country is debating the language issue, introducing such an agenda making Hindi mandatory is unfortunate…”