An open letter to VC, CUK

BY Aamir Hussain

Respected sir,

   

I, on behalf of research scholars of Central University of Kashmir, am writing this letter to express our gratitude towards you for taking time to listen to our queries and concerns in the meeting we had with you few weeks ago.

We appreciate your patience and understanding in addressing our issues, and we thank you for committing to resolving them. We must reiterate, however, that one of our primary concerns remains unaddressed so far.

We continue to wait for the removal of biometric attendance which we strongly oppose. We do not support any form of digital attendance that is coercive and limits the freedom of research scholars. Such system is not in the best interest of research scholars. We are not opposed to UGC rules and regulations regarding the attendance.

However, we believe that attendance of research scholar is a matter between a scholar and his/her supervisor. In the meeting with you, the impression was given to you that research scholars don’t come to university.

The previous administration misled you in the meeting. As stated by our previous vice chancellor who also happens to be the director (Research and Development), that we received reports that supervisors and their respective departments are sending fake attendance. Therefore, to make it transparent, university came up with the idea of biometric attendance. This is baseless and an attempt to justify the absurd idea of biometric attendance.

By labelling our supervisors dishonest, the previous university administration is questioning their integrity. Our supervisors are the same people who teach as well and take the attendance of PG students. If our attendance is fake, then the attendance of PG students is fake too by this logic.

Sir, the fact is that biometric attendance was imposed on research scholars undemocratically and it was an attempt to assert the power by some individuals in the administration. Research scholars are academicians in making.

Our job is not to fill attendance sheets. Our primary job is to disseminate and contribute to the knowledge production. We should not be evaluated by how many hours we spend in the university but by what we contribute to the university through our research.

Biometric attendance counts hours not the quality of hours one spends in the university. Biometric attendance is not going to reflect the contact hours between a scholar and his/her supervisor. Attendance must be an affair between a scholar and his/her supervisor.

There is no need to introduce third party. We request a swift response from you in this matter, and we assure you that we are willing to cooperate with you in the matters which need time. We expect the removal of biometric attendance immediately.

As students, we hope that a dialogue with the administration can lead to mutually beneficial solution that will benefit the students as well as university. Any decision impacting students shall be taken democratically and in consultation with the students. We hope and firmly believe that under your leadership, this university will progress in the right direction.  Once again, we thank you for your time and patience, and we look forward to your prompt response in this regard.

Sincerely,

Aamir Hussain

aamirpeer77@gmail.com

Representative Research Scholars, Central University of Kashmir. 

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