Jamia Millia Islamia will resume offline classes from November 10 after students called off their 18-day protest, with the university also scheduling its second mid-term examinations for November 16 to 21.
The decision was issued in an order by Registrar Prof Md Mahtab Alam Rizvi on Friday. The order supersedes earlier notices and office orders issued on October 24, 26 and 28, and directs all deans, heads of departments and directors to ensure the smooth conduct of classes and examinations.
The university has also instructed its academic and administrative units to maintain students’ attendance and other records regularly as teaching returns to the campus. The order follows a prolonged standoff between the administration and students over the restoration of the Jamia Millia Islamia Students’ Union (JMISU).
The student protest and hunger strike began on October 12. The university has announced a timeline to restore the students’ union, after an October 29 order approved the implementation of the JMISU Constitution. The latest university order links the resumption of regular academic activity to the end of the protest.
More than 2,000 teaching and non-teaching employees attended a thanksgiving programme on Friday at 3.30 pm on the lawns of the Ansari Auditorium, according to a university statement. The employees thanked the administration for resolving what the statement described as a two-decade-long impasse over students’ union elections.
University employees credited the administration’s engagement with protesting students, as well as support and guidance from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Home Affairs, for the resolution. They described the implementation of the JMISU Constitution as the outcome of efforts to address the issue through dialogue.
The return to offline classes will require departments to restore regular on-campus academic schedules and ensure that the mid-term examinations are conducted as planned. The university’s direction to maintain attendance and other records also places responsibility on individual departments to document the transition after the disruption.
The teaching staff, however, demanded strict action against those responsible for allegedly writing anti-national graffiti and slogans on university walls and vandalising gates and other infrastructure, the university said. Employees also criticised social media portrayals of the developments as a contest between winners and losers, saying such narratives could divide the university community.
The immediate institutional milestones are the resumption of offline classes on November 10 and the conduct of the second mid-term examinations from November 16 to 21. The university’s announced timeline for implementing the students’ union constitution remains central to the next phase of the settlement.
