IIT-Kharagpur faculty threaten hunger strike

The IIT-Kharagpur Teachers’ Association has threatened to go on a hunger strike if the Centre does not roll back the common entrance test decision though the institute’s senate conveyed its support to the proposal earlier this month.

Institute director Damodar Acharya said on June 2 that the institute had no objection to a common test and that it has been communicated to the HRD Ministry.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Teachers’ Association General Secretary Proshanta Guha said, “All the teachers  who attended the May 2 senate meeting opposed the move. Following this, a special senate meeting was called on May 3, where non-senate member teachers participated. But, then, our director told us he could do nothing, since he had already forwarded the minutes of the May 2 senate meeting, stating that IIT-KGP agreed to the proposal”. Guha, who was part of the delegation that met the Prime Minister said, “I told the Prime Minister that it is not the responsibility of the IITs to take care of the students of state boards, whose standard is said to be deteriorating”.

“There are many boards where there is no pass-fail system till class eight and how is it possible for the students passing out of these boards to make their way to the IITs, I asked the PM,” Guha added. “Education is now the best business where you don’t have to invest anything. Only you need to have a building and that is enough and the government is trying to promote that,” a senior faculty of IIT Kharagpur told Deccan Herald on condition of anonymity.

“By introducing the common entrance test the government is trying to destroy the IITs which have earned international reputation over years, so that they can make way for the foreign universities who are coming only to do business,” the professor added.

“The IIT-JEE is the best exam system in the world. It ensures the quality of our student intake,” Guha said.

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