Allahabad University teachers' boycott of classes continues

ALLAHABAD: Allahabad University teachers kept away from classes for the third consecutive day on Wednesday in protest against the assault on two fellow teachers. Meanwhile, the varsity authorities have suspended four students -- Mohammad Mosaddik, Ziyauddin, Akhilesh Kumar and Ambuz Kumar Mishra -- with immediate effect. While Mosaddik and Ziyauddin were allegedly involved in the assault on two senior teachers of JK Institute, Akhilesh and Ambuz were suspended pending inquiry in the incident related to Dr Sangeeta Srivastav of the department of Home Science.
Mosaddik and Ziyauddin are pursuing MA (part-I) from the department of Arabic, Akhilesh is pursuing Master's degree in development studies and Ambuz is MA-I student of the department of anthropology. Entry of all these students on the campus has been banned.
"We are trying our level best to see that those involved in both these incidents are booked as varsity has zero tolerance towards any attempt to disturb academic atmosphere of AU", said proctor Prof R K Upadhayay.
Meanwhile, AU teachers held a meeting at the department of medieval and modern history. Around 200 teachers present in the meeting collectively condemned the callous approach of the varsity and the district administration in initiating steps to punish those involved in violence at JK Institute last week.
Teaching remained paralysed on the campus for the third day on Wednesday. Thin attendance of students was reported in various departments. Even research scholars, who share the burden of teaching, owing to shortage of teachers in many departments, refrained from taking classes.A delegation of teachers met V-C Prof AK Singh and discussed the ongoing crisis. They also served an ultimatum and warned that the working of the varsity would be brought to a stand still if strict action was not taken against the guilty within the next 24 hours.
The V-C assured the delegation that decisive steps would be taken to punish the culprits and varsity administration would ensure that such incidents were not repeated on the campus. Prof Singh appealed to the striking teachers to end the protest.
The AU teachers also handed over a memorandum to AU V-C on Wednesday. The memorandum stated that AU teachers were deeply hurt, saddened and disappointed by varsity authorities' response to their demand. The teachers lamented that unruly elements were openly moving around on the campus and threatening teachers. "The teachers' association considers anarchy and violence rampant on the campus as a serious threat to the autonomy, dignity, and academic environment of the University. In the last few months quite a number of teachers have been assaulted and no action has been taken. This has led to the disappointment and general unrest among the teachers leading to great constraint in effective teaching-learning process," said the memorandum.Meanwhile, LLB-honours exams scheduled for Thursday and Monday have been postponed. The decision was taken after the head of the law department Prof Rakesh Khanna informed the controller of examination office that conducting the exam was not possible owing to ongoing teachers' agitation. The dates of these exams would be announced later.The campus also witnessed a protest by All India Democratic Students' Organisation (AIDSO) who claimed that ongoing strike of teachers was a setback for the students. However, the agitating group was stopped from going to the V-C's office by proctor Prof RK Upadhayay, who took the memorandum from the group.
Later in the evening, a group of student leaders took out a candle procession in support of physically handicapped student Aftab Alam who has already left the city. The student leaders demanded justice to Aftab and punishment to those who discouraged him.