No recommendations on to or not to retain Indo-Islamic studies
Report। । Shozab Muneer
Aligarh.The present state of affairs of Aligarh Muslim University is evident from a reply to an RTI application dated 20.05.2024 regarding a decision to discontinue a part of the syllabus for entrance competitive examinations for admission to Class XI. The University stated in a press release that it was a decision of the Academic Council of the University in its meetings held on 03.02.2024. The decision affects thousands of aspirants to the Higher Secondary course of the University. Surprisingly, the records as to when and who took this decision and the decision itself are not available with the University. In fact, the hush up appears to be because the removed portion of the syllabus was regarding content of Indo-Islamic Culture. The allegations doing the rounds on the campus is that the Indo-Islamic portion was removed under the pressure of the ruling party.
After the media highlighted the issue the University administration in a hurried manner informed the constituting of a Committee by the previous acting Vice Chancellor on an authorisation by the Academic Council held on 24.02.2024. The Committee was constituted to make recommendations whether the removed portion is to be restored or not. An analysis of the members of the Committee show its member mainly of teachers from Faculty of Engineering and Technology and none of the members had expertise in the discipline of Islamic Studies, Arabic or Theology, with the Controller of Examinations as the convener, who also belongs to the Faculty of Engineering and Technology. Some prominent faculty say that the Committee was deliberately constituted comprising persons to ensure recommendations that would please the ruling party.
However, in a reply to an RTI application the University CPIO “NO RECORDS AVAILABE” implying a deliberate attempt to misinform the information seeker or else the University is in a state of paralysis where not even the minutes of Academic Council, the highest academic body of University, are maintained.
Again, the members of Academic Council have stated that the matter was never placed before the Academic Council, whereas an Academic syllabus to an entrance test that normally has more than twenty thousand aspirants from all over the India was removed without consulting the body that approves the syllabus in normal course. Senior faculty say that this depicts the situation in the university , where nothing appears that can be relied upon.
Acording to sources It is also interesting that no recommendations of the Committee have surfaced so far even though the forms for Competitive Examinations to Class XI have been released with 07.02.2025 as the last date of application. A senior faculty member of the Committee in anonymity has expressed apprehension that the Committee will never resolve the issue and leave it dangling. It is because of this that the Committee even after eight months has not proceeded an inch.
Some other faculty are of the opinion that the University to deny the pressure of the ruling party in the matter is not coming out with the truth. However, a letter by Mr Nishit Sharma, a senior BJP leader, dated 29.12.2021 had demanded the removal of Indo-Islamic portion of the syllabus for the Entrance Competitive Examinations for admission to Class XI. The senior faculty conjecture that to not exhibit the pressure of the ruling party the University has not brought the matter to the Academic Council fearing backlash and therefore while on the one hand the PRO claims the decision to be of the Academic Council, on the other hand University CPIO, designated under RTI Act 2005 to provide information to information seeker, has replied to an RTI application that “No such information is available on the office record”.
In this regard MIC PRO AMU I do not have information on this issue
