S Muneer
Aligarh.Immediately after the Prime Minister returned from the election campaign of 2024 at Aligarh orders were issued for the first woman Vice Chancellor of AMU, Prof Naima Khatoon, who joined as the first woman Vice Chancellor April 22, 2024. The first woman Vice Chancellor has been a strong votary of ‘beti bachao, beti padho’ campaign to empower women through education. She was appointed as the first woman Vice Chancellor of AMU on and expectations especially of the girls rocketed sky high. However, the girl students of AMU at the moment stand highly disappointed and feel betrayed.
The period of honey moon of Prof Naima Khatoon’s joining as the first woman Vice Chancellor lasted six days more than a year. On April 28, 2025, tired of being without electricity and water the girl residents of Abdullah Hall protested against the failure of the University administration, especially the Provost of the Hall, with the demand to ensure proper supply of these two interconnected essentials. The failure in supply of electricity was nothing new but a usual occurrence at the Hall, which is not the case in the Halls for boys. The Abduallah Hall, located about two kilometres from the main University campus and houses around one and half thousand girls who have recently been facing frequent and prolonged power cuts, which also results in the water pumps not working and therefore shortage of water. The distance of around two kilometres from the University campus ensures the Hall’s normal functioning is not under scrutiny on day to day basis.
The girls have been continuously complaining that the generators only supply power to the Dining Hall and Reading Room, leaving the hostels without electricity for long durations, disturbing their sleep and studies. The girls feel stressed with the problems not being attended to, especially with a woman Vice Chancellor at the helm of affairs of the University. They feel that no one considers our sleep to be of importance, no one cares whether we sleep or not, whether we study or not. The grievances of the boys are attended to on top priority and do not suffer the problems we girls face every day. The prevalent patriarchy ensures less attention paid to their woes by the University administration headed by the first woman Vice Chancellor does not heed to their problems and maintain a studied silence. A number of girls were convinced that patriarchy dominates the running of the University and makes us feel the University is only for the boys, something expected to change with the first woman Vice Chancellor.
The result of prolonged power failures and lack of water leading to dehydration, etc. was that five girl students fainted from heat and some girls vomited outside the gates. To contain the protest proctorial staff arrived and the male staff misbehaved with the girls. The Vice Chancellor arrived on the scene only to go to straight to the Provost Office, without a word with the girls, and then desired that the girls should come and talk to her in the Provost Office, the girls refused and as they were further aggravated blocked the Vice Chancellor’s exit, who had to use the back gate to escape from the scene.
The University administration, especially the Provost, failed to take measures to ensure no such occurrences take place in future. On September 14, 2026 the problem raised its head again. The Provost who was earlier in 2025 an Associate Professor in the University has now been promoted as Professor under a cloud of doubt over her fulfilling the mandatory UGC qualifications.
After a year and few months later due to no attention paid by the first woman Vice Chancellor or the Provost of the Hall a replay of the events that took place a year earlier. The resident girls at about 4:30 am on September 14, 2026 launched a protest complaining about the quality of food being served to them in the Dinning Hall. The food was contaminated and beyond consumption, the girls maintaining anonymity challenged the Provost to have her children eat the food. At around 8:30 am the proctorial team arrived and a teacher member of the team misbehaved with the agitating girls, in a tone as if the girls have no right to demand better conditions of living in the Hall and have absolutely no rights to peaceful agitation over their prolonged problems.
It was at 9:30 am that the first woman Vice Chancellor of the University, who is well conversant with the problems girls face by virtue of herself having been a resident of the Abdullah Hall, Provost of a girls’ Hall and Principal of the Women’s College, arrived and preferred, as on previous occasion, to not meet the girls on the spot of agitation and instead, according to the girls under anonymity, called them to meet her in the College Auditorium but the girl students did not attend the meeting. The Vice Chancellor left and later in the evening the Proctor was sent who asked the girls to come to the Auditorium for a discussion. The girls said the proctorial team assured them that solutions will be worked out to their problems and the tone was that this will be done expeditiously after studying all the issues.
The agitating girls on anonymity said they do not expect the University administration to take effective measures in the near future. The girls also expressed their disappointment with the first woman Vice Chancellor to take up on top priority the treatment meted out to them girls in terms of quality of facilities as compared to the boys, where gender discrimination is too apparent to ignore. The girls have also pointed to the sanitation issues in the Hall which run in the opposite directions to the Prime Minister’s campaign of ‘swatch bharat’.
The teachers of the University are disappointed with the expected ‘beti bachao, beti padho’ campaign to be taken forward by giving special attention to the Women’s College, especially in the light of the present Vice Chancellor being the first woman to occupy the highest administrative position in the University.
This reporter contacted the Provost Abdullah Hall for her comments but the Provost refused to talk and refused to talk to any media house.
This reporter also contacted Madam Vice Chancellor and send Whatsapp message that ( Madam Vice Chancellor) as you are fully aware of the happenings and maltreatment of the girl hostelers of Abdullah Hall. Please can you inform us how may rounds of the Women’s College and Abdullah Hall have you made since your appointment as the Vice Chancellor. However, no reply was received till the publication of this news.
This reporter also contacted MIC PRO and send Whatsapp message that “” Please can you apprise us on the happenings of yesterday, i.e. of September 14, 2026 that took place at the Abdullah Hall and what is University administration doing or planning to do about the problems of the girls.”” However, no reply was received till the publication of this news.