Fund Education, Not Surveillance: The Struggle for a Democratic Campus

Public Education is a fundamental right of the people. Movements from recent past, like the AIFRTE (All India Forum for Right To Education) (2009) have shown, how the working-class struggle, for a just and democratic education system. State - Public Universities like Jadavpur University have made quality education affordable for even the most socially and financially backward classes in our society.

Our university campus, built and maintained on donated public land, has remained open to students from other colleges and the general public to encourage open discussions and foster unity in the students’ struggle against social injustices, both within the campus and in the broader society.

Surprisingly on September 26, 2025, the Calcutta High Court passed an order (1) where the state’s recommendations were as follows:

“In this context, the following security measures are highly recommended:
a) The number of CCTVs inside the main campus and main hostel of JU should be increased.
b) Ex-servicemen can be recruited as security guards.
c) The number of security guards should be increased.
d) Checking at the gates, to ensure no unauthorized person enters the campus/hostel.”

This order was passed under the pretext of “campus security”, and even the hostel was shut down to current boarders citing Puja holidays, disregarding the situation of the boarders at that moment, resulting in boarders having to arrange means of residence at inhumanely short notice within meagre means (as hostels are provided to students based on such criterion) or arrange travel tickets at exorbitantly high prices at peak seasons.

“Campus security” is an excuse to increase surveillance on the students and divert the focus from urgent issues like lack of proper infrastructure in labs and classrooms, understaffed Faculty and stagnant hiring, worsening condition of Hostels. There is huge ignorance on part of the state to provide the University with necessary funds for day to day functioning, including Research grants and skill-development initiatives.

For years now, the university has been suffering from a fund crunch, its reserves are on the brink of depletion, yet the state remains indifferent to this fact. Instead, it is proactive in imposing surveillance, breaching the privacy of students inside classrooms and democratic spaces. This reveals the negligence of the State towards some of the brightest students in the country and their right to quality education.

The liberal justice system has directed the state to allocate ₹70 lakhs for the installation of CCTV cameras. Students must ask: when crores are spent in the name of “security,” whose safety is being ensured, and whose voices are being silenced? Is this more important than the procurement of necessary lab equipment, the appointment of faculty (which is hugely understaffed), and the overall betterment of the curriculum?

Despite issues that require the immediate attention of the authorities, the court has directed the state and the university administration to sit for a “meeting” on October 15, 2025, to discuss the issue of “campus safety.”

“...we deem it proper to direct the State and the University to sit together in a meeting to resolve the problem then and there. Therefore, as agreed, there shall be a meeting on 15th October, 2025 at Nabanna at 2:00 p.m.”

It must be noted that surveillance does not necessarily equate to safety. It has been seen in the past that despite ample surveillance and guards in place, there have been horrific incidents of attacks on students.

CCTVs and surveillance mechanisms are useless for students, we have no use for them. We want working lab infrastructure, more recruitment of professors for a better teacher-student ratio, and greater funding to conduct quality research on par with other national institutes.

We, the students of the university, who are the primary stakeholders of this institution, have been stripped of any representation in the aforementioned meeting between the state and the university authorities.

“As submitted by the University, the representatives of Jadavpur University who will be attending the meeting are the Vice-Chancellor, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, and Registrar (Acting).”

One can easily understand that a meeting concerning the “safety” of students being held without any student representation is diabolical. Hence, we must demand the presence of student representatives in such meetings, where we can express our immediate concerns and demands.

[1] WPA(P) 444 of 2023 WITH WPA(P) 84 of 2025 WITH CAN 1 of 2025