Delhi University’s St Stephen’s College reportedly suspended around 100 first-year students for not attending the morning assembly, according to reports from teachers and students on Tuesday.
The situation escalated when students were allegedly barred from the second-semester exams for not meeting the principal along with their parents regarding the missed assemblies.
Principal John Varghese’s response has not been immediately available, though students presented their side through an email on Monday, February 19, 2024.
Expressing their concerns, students highlighted in their email to Principal Varghese that the suspension and exam debarment emails sent on Saturday, February 17, 2024, were worrying.
The basis for the suspension, as per students, was the alleged failure to arrange a meeting with the principal as requested on Sunday, February 4, 2024, due to poor attendance at morning assemblies throughout January.
Students argued that arranging a meeting was challenging, especially for those whose parents were not located in Delhi-NCR, making it impractical to travel on short notice due to prior commitments, scheduling constraints, and financial limitations.
The students received emails purportedly from the principal’s personal secretary, informing their parents of their exclusion from the upcoming exams due to non-compliance. They claimed that their efforts to secure appointments without their guardians were rejected.
A faculty member criticized the alleged suspension as a form of “coercion” to participate in a religious activity, citing university regulations, and demanded disciplinary action against the responsible individual.
Dr. Sanjeev Grewal, head of the college’s economics department, expressed shock at the alleged suspension in an email to Principal Varghese on Tuesday, February 20, 2024.
Dr. Grewal remarked, “I am deeply disturbed by the suspension of a significant number of students from the college and the threat of their debarment from examinations. To my knowledge, low attendance at the morning college assembly is not one of these grounds.”
He added, “The morning assembly is a tradition unique to St. Stephen’s College and is not recognized by the university. I also believe that non-attendance at the morning assembly cannot be a justifiable reason for suspension from the college.”
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