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Communist Party of India (CPI) Rajya Sabha floor leader P Sandosh Kumar on Sunday demanded Institute of Eminence status for the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi from the Union Ministry for Education.
In a letter, Sandosh Kumar wrote to Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of Education and raised several other issues related to the financial crunch being faced by JNU and several other public universities. Through the letter, he urged Pradhan to take immediate steps to address the financial situation of public universities, declare JNU as an Institute of Eminence and resolve all issues related to infrastructure, promotions and scholarships. CPI MP claimed that he wrote a letter to Pradhan in the context of current JNU VC Prof Santishree D Pandit suggesting to sell or rent JNU properties for want of funds. "The VC's proposal seems to be an attempt to hand over prime locations to private hands. Unfortunately, an esteemed institute like JNU is reduced to penuries as government expenditure on research and public education has come down. All major public educational institutes are heavily burdened due to lack of funding," he said. "The majority of our students come from lower rungs of income and neglect of public education shows that higher education will soon become an exclusive domain of the affluent. The physical infrastructure of JNU is crumbling due to lack of maintenance, several members of the faculty are awaiting due promotions and students are agitating for timely disbursal and increase in the amount of scholarships" he added. MP P Sandosh Kumar from Kerala emphasised that education is a public good and considering its indispensable role in the country's future, there should be zero negligence towards the sector. (ANI)
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