Students Fume Over Lack Of Infrastructure In JNU’s School Of Engineering

The project to set up a School of Engineering has hit a roadblock and has been criticised by students who claim that they have been facing several infrastructural issues including the lack of a school building. Jawaharlal Nehru University had approved setting up a School of Engineering, in December 2017. It said that it would start admissions within six months of permission being granted.

As of now, the school has 104 students enrolled in two programmes — Computer Science Engineering and Electronics and Communications. In May this year, Rector II Satish Garkoti in a statement had said admissions would begin in July and that there was “existing infrastructure”.

However, in the absence of a building, students alleged that classes are being held at the Convention Centre — meant for cultural and academic events — and their lab work at the School of Computer & Systems Sciences. “We have a timetable, but teachers never follow it. We always have to be prepared because, at any point, we get an SMS saying that a class will be held in an hour. Also, in our class, there are 31 students, but there are only 29 computers. The other two have been told to get their laptops,” claimed a student, as reported by TNIE

Another student alleged that since the school was new, the JNU library does not have books on engineering, forcing them to buy new books every month: “We spend close to Rs 3,000 per semester on books alone…. We’re already paying over Rs 60,000 per semester — more than any other course — but what benefits are we getting?”

Students said they had raised the issue with the Dean, but to no avail.

Dean R K Agarwal, however, said he was not intimated of any problem. “I have been meeting the students, and there’s no such issue that they have brought up. There’s no problem of labs or computers. Classes are taking place at the Convention Centre because we don’t have classes big enough in any other School to accommodate so many students while the school is being built,” he said, adding that the “best faculty” with “expertise in their fields” were teaching the subject.

Students also claimed they don’t have a hostel and have been staying in the Damodar Hostel, which is a dormitory.