The Hindu : New Delhi News : JNU student alleges caste bias in marking

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 08, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

JNU student alleges caste bias in marking

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: A student of the School of Arts and Aesthetics (SAA) at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here has alleged that students of the M. Phil. programme belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have been awarded considerably lesser marks than the general category students by the faculty. The JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) has demanded appointment of a committee to look into the alleged discrimination.

According to JNUSU, the student through a Right to Information application found out that the highest marks awarded to students from the deprived sections in the interview totalled only 18 (for students from the Scheduled Castes) and 12 (for students from Scheduled Tribes), while the highest marks for general category students were 30 out of 30.

As per the information furnished, students from deprived sections scored 44 in the written test but were awarded only 2 (for SC) and 12 (for ST) in the interview. But the general category students scoring the same marks in the written test were awarded 25 on an average in the interview, the JNUSU claimed.

JNUSU vice-president Dhananjay said that it had come to notice that the faculty were aware of the caste of the candidates while taking the interview.

Mr. Dhananjay also said the students of the SAA had been complaining of certain faculty members having a bias against students from non-English speaking schools.

In its letter to the Vice-Chancellor, the JNUSU has demanded that a one-member committee chaired by a person from the Equal Opportunity Office be constituted to look into the issue. The committee should be completely independent of the SAA administration and must submit its report within a specified time frame.

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