St. Stephen's College has allegedly suspended around 1000 students for not attending morning assembly, according to teachers and students. The college has given a warning to debar the students if they do not call their parents.
The students and teachers have written to principal John Varghese, requesting him to immediately withdraw the order of suspension of students from college and also withdraw the threat to debar them from appearing in the exams. However, there was no response from the administration.
Email sent to more than 100 first-year students
More than 100 students, who are in their first year of college, received an email on February 17, where they were informed that they had been suspended and would be debarred from the second-semester examination after allegedly failing to meet the principal with their parents for missing the assembly.
''We are writing to you regarding the emails sent on February 17, 2024 (Saturday), to over 100 first-year students of St Stephen's College in which they were suspended and debarred from the semester 2 examinations,'' the students said in the email to Varghese.
Setting up an appointment wasn't feasible: Students
The students further stated in the email that setting up an appointment wasn't feasible for many since their parents do not live in Delhi-NCR and, hence, they couldn't travel to Delhi at short notice due to prior commitments, scheduling issues, and financial issues.
College Administration sent an email to parents as well
An email was sent to the parents and guardians of some students, informing them that their children would not be allowed to sit for the upcoming examination due to non-compliance with a request. The students claimed that their attempts to schedule appointments without their guardians were rejected. A college faculty member criticized the alleged suspension, stating that the students were being forced to participate in a religious activity, which goes against university rules and regulations. The faculty member demanded disciplinary action against the person responsible for sending the email.
Sanjeev Grewal, the head of the economics department at the college, expressed his surprise in an email dated February 20th, addressed to Principal Varghese. He stated that he was shocked to hear about the suspension of a large number of students from college. He stated that according to his understanding, students should only be debarred from appearing in the examinations on grounds explicitly stated in the university rules and regulations. In his opinion, the shortage of attendance in the morning college assembly is not a valid reason for debarring students from appearing in the examinations. Grewal mentioned that the morning assembly is a convention specific to St. Stephen's College and is not recognised by the university. Therefore, he believes that the failure to attend the morning assembly does not constitute a legitimate ground for suspension from the college.
(With inputs from PTI)
