JNU: International School students protest over gate closing time

The Left-affiliated All India Students' Association (AISA) on Tuesday, October 22, accused the Jawaharlal Nehru University's administration of "curtailing students' freedom of movement" by closing the gates of the School of International Studies as early as 6 pm. However, the administration said the move is aimed at ensuring security of students and preventing outsiders from entering the building.

'Curtailing students'freedom of movement': AISA

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The AISA claimed that the JNU administration sent a notice to students of the School of International Studies (SIS) on Tuesday morning informing them about the timings for closing the gate. According to the notice, the main gate of the SIS-1 will be closed at 6 pm. "The gate connecting SIS-1 and SIS-2 buildings will only be opened from 6 pm till 9 pm to allow entry to the reading room after checking students' identity cards, they said. Similarly, the common room space which is used by many students for reading will be closed at 5:30 pm," they added.

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"This JNU VC has miserably failed to provide us with proper infrastructure to study. And the spaces which are still used by student community for reading are also being made inaccessible," the AISA alleged.

Professor Aswini Kumar Mohapatra, dean of SIS, said the building has four entry gates and it is difficult to monitor the entry of students. "Last Sunday, a man and a woman had entered the building and when they were confronted, it was found they are outsiders. The ID cards will be checked if students want to come and study. The move is aimed at ensuring the security of students and to avert any untoward incident and also to ensure outsiders are not able to enter," he said.

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