‘AMU must be coed with merged Sunni, Shia studies’
Abolish VC’s quota, shun ‘feudal culture’ and ‘obscurantist attitude’, says government audit
NEW DELHI: The Aligarh Muslim University must abolish separate colleges for male and female undergraduate students, do away with discretionary admission quotas and merge the departments for Sunni and Shia studies, a government-backed audit of the institution has suggested.
NEW DELHI: The Aligarh Muslim University must abolish separate colleges for male and female undergraduate students, do away with discretionary admission quotas and merge the departments for Sunni and Shia studies, a government-backed audit of the institution has suggested.
These are among the top recommendations the audit made to help move the 142-year-old university away from its “past feudal culture and present obscurantist attitude”, and ensure its students “broaden their mental horizon” and climb the social ladder with “blinkers off”.
The institution, better known as AMU, is among 10 universities being audited for their academics, research, finance and infrastructure. The University Grants Commission set up five panels for this on April 25.
No official reason was given for the audit, although some of these universities have been in the news for student protests and allegations of nepotism and autocratic administrations. The Allahabad University and Pondicherry University are among them.
In the case of AMU, a university known for its orthodox Muslim culture and segregation of the sexes, it’s more about a need for wider reforms, the audit suggested.
“There is a need to reorient the educational pattern and syllabi in a very conscious way taking into account the need and background of the students,” said the audit report, which was submitted to the human resource development ministry earlier this month.
In a section titled “University Culture”, the audit said the institution should encourage vocational courses not only to enhance students’ employability but because it will facilitate their upward social mobility and “broaden their mental horizon” so that they can “contribute more meaningfully to their family, community and society”.
The audit report said “the segregation of boys and girls up to the under-graduate courses in separate boys-only and girlsonly college is considered a legacy of the past especially when the workplaces and activities in the real world are gender-neutral”.