By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Aligarh: Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) administration has finally relented to the long held demand of allowing female undergraduate students to its central Maulana Azad Library after it faced criticisms from all quarters for the VC’s alleged sexist remarks.
A circular issued by the office of the Registrar on December 3 has clarified that the Vice Chancellor has ordered that the undergraduate students of the Women’s College can visit – effective from December 7 – Maulana Azad Library every Sunday between 8 am to 11 am.
Two buses have been arranged for the purpose of taking students from Abdullah Women’s College to the main campus, where the central library is located, about three kilometres away.
Last month, a controversy had brewed in the media over alleged sexist remark of the Vice Chancellor Lieutenant General (Retd) Zameer Uddin Shah when he said that there would be “four times more boys” in the library if girls were allowed in to the central library of the university.
The undergraduate classes for students of the Abdullah Women’s College are organized in the College campus itself. They have their own system including a library and a book bank and hence generally don’t require going to the Maulana Azad Library. Also, as all basic necessities are available inside their premises, these female students generally do not require going out of the college campus and are allowed only on Sundays to go out.
University administration had maintained all along that there are logistic issues and that the security of the female students in a small town like Aligarh notorious for crimes would be difficult to maintain if the girls are allowed to come to library. They further argued that Mulana Azad Library provides facilities as a reference library for higher academic and research purposes. It alone cannot cater to the needs of over 27,000 students of the University as about 5,000 to 6,000 students visit the library every day and hence it is beyond the capacity of the library to allow more students.
After the controversy, however, a petition was filed at the Allahabad High Court and even the HRD Minister had taken note of the issue, after which the University administration was forced to find a middle path, acceptable to all.
Clarifying that the decision is not sexist, the library authority had maintained that the post-graduate female students are anyways allowed and they turn up in large numbers.
The arrangement of bus for female under graduate students to the library and back cuts the risk of security. Moreover, they have been allowed on Sundays when otherwise footfall to the library is not as high.
The circular from the Registrar has also made it clear that the Principal of the Women’s College will assign a teacher to accompany the students and coordinate with the Library officials for any kind of support in the academic matters of students.
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