After the recent crisis in North South University, the dust seems to have settled down and a resolution reached. However, the underlying problem remains to be resolved. What leads to crises like this is nothing but the lack of a institutionalized mechanism for students to be heard by the administration - a role that is served in most universities of the world by a Student Council/Government. Unfortunately, the right to unionize to protect students' rights, which is enshrined in Art. 38 of our constitution, is neglected by most private universities. Therefore, Jagoree is launching a signature petition today to collect 5000 signatures. The petiton can be found in the link below:

www.jagoree.org/petitions/studentgovt

Once the target has been reached, Jagoree will submit the petition along with a set of recommendations to the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Honorable Minister for Education, with the following demands:

1. Make it mandatory for every private university to have a functioning student government which must have adequate representation in senate/academic council decision-making.

2. Entrust the newly formed National Education Commission to lay down rules and audit mechanisms to ensure that student governments cannot become corrupt and/or politicized, and so that only genuine students who represent the student population are democratically elected to these positions.