Faculty appointments our immediate priority; don’t see NEP from ideological lens, says JNU vice-chancellor – Times of India

Talking about National Education Policy 2020, Pandit said there may be issues, but it should not be seen from an ideological lens. Speaking to
TOI, she said the infrastructure at JNU was in a sorry state and her immediate priority was teaching and non-teaching appointments.

The convent-educated polyglot, who is fluent in seven languages, including English, said, “I’m happy because three glass ceilings have been broken — being a woman, the first non-Hindi speaking woman from Tamil Nadu, and coming from an extremely marginalised class.”
“I thank this current government for its courage as it’s not easy to make a woman a vice-chancellor because a lot of forces work against it. You may have seen the male exclusivist privilege on Twitter hitting me left, right and centre. Instead of praising the appointment, they were targeting me for my English,” added Pandit.

The professor of international studies said NEP should not be criticised from an ideological point of view. “When Rajiv Gandhi’s government brought it, there wasn’t much opposition. Its interdisciplinary-multidisciplinary education is good. As a social scientist, I think science and technology need philosophy as well as a social construct,” she added.

“The second is encouragement of Indian languages. We are thinking of separating the school of languages into Indian and foreign. What JNU gets from NEP is the five panchamrits — development, difference, diversity, democracy and dissent. I’m for dissent as it is essential to the Indic civilisation. There is no problem in criticising the policy. It can get better,” Pandit said.

The VC said her immediate challenge was recruitment and faculty promotion and to create a better atmosphere between teachers, students and the administration. “We want to make this place gender sensitive. There are several faculty members who have repeatedly violated rules. I met Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association and was told that there were a lot of girl applicants who faced domestic violence. But can all girl students be given hostels?” she wondered.

“We need to be realistic and not just keep announcing things. I got a scare while visiting the School of Life Sciences building where staircases were about to fall off. I want to address these issues first,” said the VC.

An alumna of JNU returning to the campus after 32 years, Pandit said the varsity provides a “wonderful temporary mirage”. “It is a sociological island. Temporarily, we give students the delusion that everything is free in this world. But once you go out, you realise that this is not so. JNU is a wonderful place to be in because it’s where we can commit ourselves to social and economic justice and to marginalised communities. It greatly helped me learn, understand other people and learn Hindi,” said Pandit.

Pandit spoke about how the campus had undergone changes. “The Leftists in my time were revolutionaries and dedicated. The tukde-tukde gang was never there. The protests were parliamentary. Hooting, rowdyism and putting ignominy on the VC was never there. TK Arun was my president. We may not have agreed ideologically, but we never hit each other below the belt. We had wonderful, committed teachers who inspired and disciplined us,” said the professor.