Students and teachers of Sampurnanand Sanskrit University in Varanasi are outraged after the Indian Army refused to recognise the Shashtri degree for recruitment into the army. While the students from the university were allowed to sit for the entrance examination and their medical examinations were also done, at the last moment they were told that their qualification is not valid, creating a major controversy on the matter.
The matter is related to the recruitment of Junior Commissioned Officer (Religious Teacher) into the Indian Army, the advertisement for which was issued in January last year. The Indian Army had invited applications for the posts of Pandit, Pandit (Gorkha), Granthi, Maulvi (Sunni), Maulvi (Shia), Padre and Both Monk last year, and accordingly, the recruitment process went ahead.
The advertisement mention that the qualification for the post of religious teacher will be Graduate in any discipline from a recognized university. In addition to that, candidate for the post of Pandit can be Acharya in Sanskrit or Shastri in Sanskrit with one-year diploma in ‘Karam Kand’. In Sanskrit Universities, the Acharya degree is considered to be equivalent to a post-graduate degree, while the Shastri is equal to a bachelor’s degree.
The Sampurnanand Sanskrit University in Varanasi offers these degrees, and accordingly, the qualified students from the University had applied to the Indian Army for the post of religious teachers. While their applications were accepted, their medical examination and the physical verification of their documents were done and admit cards for the written examination were issued, they were not allowed to sit for the exam at the last moment. Reportedly, the Indian Army rejected their applications saying that their qualification is not valid. Army officials said that the Shastri degree from the university is not equivalent to a bachelor’s degree.
This caused a major outrage in the university, and the students have sent a letter to the Prime Minister’s Public Relations Office in Varanasi to address the issue. They marched from the university to the office yesterday to deliver the letter, amid tight police security.
The students say that the UGC has recognised the university’s Shastri degree as equal to a bachelor’s degree, and in the past students from the university has been selected by Indian Army in the same post. Therefore, the decision of the officials to term their degree invalid is not correct, they said. Hindu scholars of Varanasi has also condemned this decision of the Indian Army. They passed a resolution, and sent a letter to the defence minister, asking to revert the decision.
Vice-Chancellor of the university Hare Ram Tripathi has said that he has sought an appointment with defence minister Rajnath Singh to resolve the issue. He said that he has also sent letters to the defence minister, Army chief and the recruitment board of army for a permanent solution of the problem.
He informed that the decision of the Indian Army is wrong as UGC recognises the Shastri and Acharya degrees of the university as equivalent to graduate and postgraduate degrees, and students of the university have been getting selected for the post of religious teacher based on these qualifications.
He said that therefore, he has sought a meeting with Rajnath Singh for a permanent solution to the issue.
In the meanwhile, Sampurnanand Sanskrit University has decided that from now on, they will mention the BA degree along with Shastri degree on both mark sheets and certificates in an effort to resolve the confusion. According to the university, due to the lack of awareness, some organisations tend to reject the degrees of the university as invalid. The university issues Madhyama for High School, Uttar Madhyama for Higher Secondary, Shastri for Graduate and Acharya for Post Graduate qualifications. From now on, the university will mention both versions on the certificates issued to the students.
