Separate student’s union wing for girls at AMU

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  • September 4, 2012 10:57 pm
  • Amu Aligarh
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Aligarh: Aligarh Muslim University has announced the revival of separate student’s union wing for girls after a gap of two years.

Vice Chancellor (retired Lt General) Zameeruddin Shah, while announcing the decision yesterday, said, the decision to have a single union for boys and girls was taken by the previous administration and was a result of a “flawed interpretation” of the Lyngdoh recommendation.

Shah said the union election will be held this year strictly in “accordance with the recommendation of the Lyngdoh committee report.”

The decision was announced after a meeting of top university officials and students’ representatives yesterday.

“The elections will be held at an early date to be announced shortly,” Shah said.

“Traditionally women’s college always had a separate students union. It was only in the last two years that the girls did not enjoy a separate union and had to contend with a single union of the University,” the Vice Chancellor said.

This step was in direct contradiction to the Lyngdoh recommendations which envisaged a separate Student’s Union whenever there is a geographical distance between two institutions, he said.

In fact the decision to hold a single Student’s Union had led to a major disciplinary problem during electioneering in the last two elections, because the two institutions are located at a distance, the Vice Chancellor said.

Shah said that certain sections were trying to spread canard that we are reverting to the old system of separate unions under the influence of ultraconservative sections. This is patently false.

“We have taken this step only after holding a meeting with the teachers of women’s college, 95 per cent of whom supported the provision of a separate Student’s Union for the Women’s College,” he said.

All post graduate girls at AMU will however participate in the election to main student’s union as was the past tradition. He also clarified that the president of the women’s college student’s union would be an ex-officio member of the AMU Student’s Union, he said.

General Shah said “AMU is an Institution of higher learning committed to enlightened liberal thought and there was no question whatsoever of promoting any gender bias. We are fully committed to promoting the full democratic rights of women’s students at the campus”.