Reality Of Kashmir University

University Of Kashmir one of the most reputed and renowned universities of India, is not only famous for its building, infrastructure and enthralling environment but also highly popular and well known for its delayed degrees, delayed exams, delayed results, worst management and non-cooperation with students. With NIRF ranking 48 in 2021 and 78th   in the overall category among top universities in India by QS BRICS 2020, KU in reality withstands far behind the above-mentioned ranks. The harsh realities of KU are getting slowly unravelled on every stage of students life as the number of protests has touched peaks over the past few years, thereby proving the failure of the administration and management committee.  

Recently after the University Of Jammu announced the conduction of exams, Kashmir University awakened from its slumber of ignorance even though repeatedly being questioned about the delayed degrees and exams. It's a shame and disgusting on the part of the administration and each and every member of Kashmir University that students are protesting every now and then against uncountable issues. In a recent event, the downfall of KU was seen when a number of students lead a mass protest on Monday, 07 Feb’22 under the guidance of many Youth - Student Council presidents. Hundreds of students from all affiliated colleges participated in the peaceful protest which later on underwent certain dramatic scenes like life threat warnings to a few students from the side of Proctor, Controller of examination and ofcourse not to forget the ones always poking their nose – officials from J&K Police.

As mentioned earlier on Greater Kashmir regarding the issues of Kashmir University, Syed Rizwan penned some of the bitter – harsh realities of Kashmir University as :

“ For example, mentioning the outgoing 6th-semester undergraduate students of different KU-affiliated colleges. The students were enrolled in colleges in 2018 and were supposed to complete their three-year degrees in 2020. But the students are yet to complete their degree despite the passage of more than four years. The OMR based 6th-semester examination of students culminated on December 13.

The students were expecting their results in a week’s time considering the less involvement of human resources for evaluation of the answer scripts. However, more than a month has passed and the University’s examination department is yet to declare the result of the students and award them their degrees. The result was delayed due to official wrangles as admitted by the concerned officials but now the officials at the Examination Wing are attributing the delay in declaration of results to the rise in COVID-19 cases, which is not justified at all.

There are several other examples to prove how the absence of technological interventions in KU’s examination department has proved dearly for the students. Not only in the declaration of degrees, but the examination department has also failed to keep its pace with holding examinations in time. The story of BG-2019 students is a case in point. The course started around April 2019 while the first-semester exam was held in December 2019 followed by the second-semester exam in June 2020 and the 3rd-semester exam in July 2021.

The date sheet for the 4th-semester examination was notified but has been postponed. The sequence of events clearly indicates the delay in holding the exams and shows how poorly the examination department has fared to implement the semester system of examination which was introduced some seven years ago at the college level. There is so much uncertainty about examinations among regular candidates of the BG 2019 batch.

These students should ideally be in the 6th semester so that they could complete their degree in time. Not only are the undergraduate degrees delayed, but some degrees at the PG level have also consumed more than two years of the students as well. It is a fact that COVID-19 caused lots of disruptions, but it is also a sad story that an institution that is more than 50 years old has yet to evolve a mechanism of holding Proctored Online Examinations (POE) to finish the tests in time in case of such eventualities and disruptions.

The University does not hold online examinations because their sanctity is often questioned. In the last few years, the University has often been in the news for breaching the secrecy of examinations after it sent question papers of various undergraduate examinations to the colleges through a social media chatting application-WhatsApp.” In addition to that the classes of UG students of BTech, 2nd semester started on December 10, 2020, and still, they’re waiting for their pending exams of majors and previous results of minors. The delay in degree has inculcated the seeds of aversion in their heart for the management of Kashmir University.

Kashmir University thinks so high of itself as if it's the only college where students are witnessing covid-19 issues. Nay, much more words have been faced by the students of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Bangalore and Delhi. So this fallacy must be broken and students are upright to set the minds of those running the administration. Vice-Chancellor of Kashmir University is nothing than a puppet in the hands of the Government. Unaware of what drastic changes can be done for the betterment of students, VC prefers to sit and relax in a calm room with Central Heating System and fill the pockets of the students' admission fee. That’s the worst and yet agonizing thing affecting the academia of students and all over the colleges affiliated with KU.

The University of Kashmir after witnessing an immense rise in questions from media personnel and students finally decided to conduct their examination in offline mode from the second and third week of February'22. In wake of the decrease in covid – 19 cases, such a step was taken by the administration, not taking into account the toll of lives it may affect after gathering of students at the examination hall.

The worst part blow hit when Kashmir University declared the offline mode for the same even though completing 90% of syllabus via online mode. It didn’t prove as easy as they thought it would be and soon tables turned upside down when students raged a protest against the conducting of exams via online mode. The stubbornness of officials of KU spread like a wildfire when Proctor, Controller of examinations and some police officials gave life threats and warnings of fake encounters to the student there.

( Courtesy: videos taken by many students on protest )

The dedication of students was seen after they stood up for the protest from 11:30 in the morning to 9:45 in the evening and yet things are chaotic and not well decided. Not having the essence of humanity, the officials of KU involved police in the same and also threatened students by circulating certain notices among the groups. It sounds ironically disturbing that how the officials of KU are playing politics with the career of their own students. Certain proofs as viral videos and images were provided.

Each and every student is looking forward to the Honourable LG of Kashmir and requests the same to take matters into his own hands and give the best possible outcomes as soon as possible and most importantly as per students convenience. Moreover its the duty of LG to inspect the KU officials as well as suspend J&K Police officials who threatened the student inside the campus, who were sincerely being peaceful throughout the process.

افراد کے ہاتھوں ميں ہے اقوام کي تقدير

ہر فرد ہے ملت کے مقدر کا ستارا

Fortunes of States through individual prowess ripen

Each man one star of their ascendant (Destiny)

Allama Iqbal ( R. A )

P.S: This is an article on behalf of those 100's students who were surviving all the brutality of officials of KU and took part in the mass protest despite chilly and rainy conditions.

The author is an engineering student and she can be reached at ([email protected])

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