By JNU, For JNU

Quota for teachers’ kids is insider advantage, and unfair, in a uni otherwise known for being progressive

JNU is adding seats, 5% more, for its undergraduate and postgraduate courses. That’s great. Every bit counts – around 16L registered for CUET last year. But wait, there’s a catch. The JNU seat-increase is only for teaching staff’s wards. It’s a supernumerary quota, which means seats added to existing intake, for college employees’ kids. When admission to colleges is so fraught – a poorly conceived CUET, and its nightmarish implementation making matters worse – such a quota is disquieting. JNU already has a supernumerary quota in place for non-teaching staff – a janitor’s kid getting a leg-up is, still, understandable. But this new quota is meant only for wards of teaching staff – a privileged group by any measure, both economically, and by social capital.

It’s also jarring because JNU is the cream of central universities – long ranked as India’s best or second-best university by NIRF, and its earlier avatar NAAC. It sets precedent. It boasts an enviable teacher/student ratio of 1:14. Its pluralistic character, truly representative of all parts of India, has been its strength, and its affirmative-action approach extended to even student admissions. Its unusual admission policy awarded ‘deprivation points’, to candidates from backward districts, women, transgenders etc – allowing for layered diversity on-campus. There are many aspects of JNU worth emulating, but this new 5% quota for teachers’ kids does not pass any test. It only institutionalises insider advantage.

Constitutionally mandated reservations for SCs and STs are understandable. But the push for education quotas by various groups, beyond OBCs, barely masks institutions’ total failure to expand, and meet the ever-growing demand for higher education. To add to that hurt, a teachers’ quota? By all means, expand. But don’t hog seats. Make the expansion, even if it’s a single seat per programme, part of the total university intake.