The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) on Wednesday criticised the university’s decision to expand the 5% supernumerary admission quota for wards of its regular employees to also include children of teaching staff, describing the decision as “regressive”.
Till the 2025-26 academic session, the quota — comprising five undergraduate seats and three seats in postgraduate programmes — was restricted to the wards of non-teaching employees.
However, following the Executive Council’s nod to the proposal on April 15, the policy will also cover children of the teaching staff from the upcoming 2026-27 session.
In a statement, signed by JNUTA president Syed Akhtar Husain and secretary Avinash Kumar, the teachers’ association hit out at Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit for “blatant abuse of power”. The JNUTA said in a discussion held at its general body meeting on Monday over the April 14 decision, the move was held as a “regressive turn in the university’s admission policy that stemmed not from any demand by teachers”. The decision, the statement added, reflected the “blatant abuse of power resulting from the V-C’s absolute control over the decision-making process”.
