Allegations of deliberate tampering with the syllabus are totally baseless, say the university officials
Waquar Hasan | Clarion India
NEW DELHI – Students at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) are upset after the university authorities deleted questions on Indo-Islamic history from the Class XI entrance test syllabus.
“Islamic part of the syllabus such as questions related to the life of Prophet Muhmmad (peace be upon him), basic knowledge of the Qur’an, general knowledge, Islamic history and belief system of Islam were dropped,” Abdullah Ameen, president of the AMU chapter of the Students Islamic Organisation (SIO), told Clarion India over the phone on Thursday.
On Saturday, a delegation of students confronted the university officials when the latter was initially prevented from meeting Vice-Chancellor Naima Khatoon to demand the reintroduction of the deleted parts of the syllabus in the entrance test. The delegation was later allowed to meet the vice-chancellor after much persuasion.
Ameen, who was part of the delegation, said the Vice Chancellor assured that the students’ proposals and suggestions will be submitted to the academic council.
He said that when the students approached the officials to meet the vice-chancellor, they were kept waiting for 2-3 hours in the scorching heat. One student fell unconscious. There was also a push and shove between students and the officials before the team was allowed to see the V-C.
The students sought to know the grounds for the removal of the questions from the syllabus. They also said the explanation from the officials on the deletion was not satisfactory.
“If that part of the syllabus was lengthy, it could have been minimised. If it was difficult, it could have been simplified. But why did they drop the part of the fundamentals of Islam? There are other things which could have been removed,” said Ameen.
According to students, the decision to drop these questions was taken some months ago. But the notice in this regard was put out a few weeks after Khatoon took over as the new vice-chancellor.
In a press release issued by the university’s public relations office earlier, the university said an erroneous impression is being created that the move to delete certain topics has been taken at the direction of the new Vice-Chancellor.
The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), in an official note, also described as “totally baseless” the allegations of “deliberate tampering of the syllabus with the object of diluting the character of the institution”.
Another concern which is growing among the students is related to the removal of a Qur’anic verse from the logo of the university. The logo of the university has an imprint of the verse “Taught man that which he knew not”. This verse is missing from the logo pasted on the official letterhead and other places.
Local Muslim leaders in Aligarh have also expressed their concerns over these developments. They held a meeting with the head of the Islamic Studies department and others in this regard. They were also planning to meet the V-C. However, the idea was later dropped after the intervention of the proctor.