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Christ University: The Bad Shepherd

Jesus Christ in the Bible is often referred to as the Good Shepherd who heals, guides and cares for his flock i.e., his disciples. Christ University, taking inspiration from this metaphor, treats its students like sheep and cattle but does not go all the way to be a Good Shepherd because the students are not 'deemed to be' worthy of autonomy, respect or dignity.

What appeals to thousands of students across the country about Christ University is its self-proclaimed attention to holistic learning and academic integrity, and of course, discipline. Parents like myself too are convinced that the university provides the perfect opportunity for children to learn, grow and develop into responsible, skilled adults. It doesn't take too long however, for reality to rear its ugly head.ย 

Attendance is a word that every student of Christ dreads because 85% is the minimum required attendance for a student to be able to attempt an end semester examination. That is if one does not wish to pay a significant sum of money as fines. If money is not an issue however, anything above 75% will do just fine. Attendance in the University is weaponized against every student, day in and day out. How else would you ensure that students attend and listen to professors who lack basic communication skills and the ability to effectively teach concepts and theories? There are several exceptions to this rule and there are no doubt some excellent professors in Christ, but they are drastically outnumbered and more often than not disallowed any significant say in the running of the institution.

Independent thought is actively discouraged among faculty and students alike and professors who are lenient and opt for a more student-friendly approach to teaching are quickly identified and tormented by the management. To be a successful professor at Christ, being arrogant and inconsiderate to student concerns is a prerequisite and those who do not fit this template eventually change or choose to resign. Christ is an institution where in most classrooms, students may not use laptops for basic academic activities such as note-taking, accessing reference material and so on. This is because each student is treated with disdain and suspicion at every turn.ย 

It is this disdain that has led the University to effectively ensure that there is absolutely no student voice in the institution. Not one student body exists that is representative of the students at large and this right to a collective opinion is one that each student has to waive by virtue of a signed document before admission to the University. A so-called 'Student Council' exists which consists of students that are good at academics and acceptable to management. This body has no powers, no control over student affairs, and absolutely no autonomy. Ironically, most of the professors at the University seem to be concerned with the state of democracy worldwide and in India. If only one were taught to look inwards first.

The University has been exposed for what it is in the last two years for its functioning during the COVID pandemic. When a student of the University succumbed to the virus, the University decided to offer its respects by admiring the fact that he was in constant touch with his professors to meet deadlines while in the hospital. This is the level of inhumaneness and insensitivity that prevails in the institution. Drop dead, but don't you dare miss your deadlines. Every time the institution reopened amidst the pandemic, social distancing norms were not enforced, students and faculty alike were infected and all this because of the management's skewered sense of self-importance which dictates that they are the sole protectors of 'academic integrity and rigour'. Throughout the pandemic, students have been burdened with mind-numbing assignments and arbitrary examinations but once a month, without fail, the University sends students an e-mail letting them know that management does in fact care about their mental and physical well-being. This is necessary because the actions of the management certainly do not reflect this compassion or concern.

Christ University is not all bad either. The campus is green and beautiful and there are plenty of opportunities for students to grow and explore different avenues (as long as these avenues are acceptable to the institution and do not affect your attendance). But if you are a parent who wants your child to learn and develop in an environment where he or she is given both respect and guidance and where free thinking and independence of thought are encouraged, do not go knocking at the barn doors of the Bad Shepherd.
Kyon, jo likha hai woh paddna aur padke samajh na nahi aata hai, bhatije?
Yes very true , I am 4th year law student just waiting to graduate from this hell-hole. Placements are literally just around 30-40 for an entire batch of 1500 students-the mandatory 85% attendance rule ensures that students only listen to classes (that are not taught well anyway in majority) -so we lose out on oppurtunities that other students from NLU's get be it on mooting , para-legal work , research assistantships , moot court and ADR.
If the teachers aren't teaching well, study in advance and make their lives within classrooms difficult. You can demand good teachers, but you also need to prove that you're good students.
Better to form reading groups and just focus on your own learning. Work together to look for opportunities that will help you grow. Going after your teachers maybe satisfying but itโ€™s not going to get you anywhere. Good teachers depend on good admin. Focus on things you can change.
Asking smart questions repeatedly to professors, assisting inefficient loose professors in designing a class that engages students/smart students taking over classes, etc. can change your life and the life of your batch. Yes, it is not easy, nothing good is.

Taken initiative, get experts to take over your classes, engage faculty in doing this. This is what our batcmates/seniors did. Our dean was supportive, and our credit courses ended up being a mix of external/internal (60:40) faculty. Certain courses were taught nearly entirely by externals with faculty merely coordinating. Took care of bad faculty issue., and expanded our exposure. Get in place student leaders, and treat professors with respect and initiate conversations.

- a Nirma graduate.
Many colleges are guilty of weaponising attendance. Pertinent point.
No such college will be able to weaponise attendance if the students actually attend the classes, like they are supposed to.
There's no teacher living who can do that to suit all the law students these days. Because almost nothing elicits their interest and they just aren't willing to work hard.
If you have to force students to attend your classes, they will not learn anything anyway.

Do away with attendance requirement, make exams more stringent. If they can pass strict exams without attending classes, good for them.
They won't. Then they and their parents would pressurise the admin and faculty saying that students may commit suicide if their career is ruined because of year back. It's a vicious cycle. And if 50% students fail a paper because they didn't attend the class, then the faculty in turn will be pressurised into making them pass because the infra isn't enough to detain those many.
Seems like you have moved from the discussion over colleges generally ("no college will be able to..") to specifically Christ.
It's not a school. Attending lectures should not be penal in nature, adults can take decisions for themselves if they find value in it they will attend, if it's literally timepass because of a shitty professor I'm better off studying on my own. I am not 12 anymore.
I am from NLU Delhi 2015 batch. Joined in 2010. I still remember a Christ law student trying to convince me to prefer Christ University over NLU Delhi, because NLU Delhi was new and Christ had proven track record. LOL.
Nothing new. Some here (including YT influencers) today try to convince aspirants to join state NLUs over national institutions (those with INI status) on the pretext that national institutions are new and some state NLUs have a proven track record and alumni. LOL. One has to be naive or foolish to join a state university over a national university.
I graduated in 2013 and it seems like nothing has changed in all these years.

But blessing in disguise is they prepared me, though unknowingly, to preserve myself and organise secretly against an autocratic regime that ironically came to, power an year after my graduation.
Really sad to read that nothing has improved since I graduated almost 10 years ago.

I remember being admonished to the corner of the classroom near the dustbin for being disruptive like we were kindergarten babies. This was the general approach back then and sad to see that nothing has really changed.

Also, this incident is probably one of the least-traumatic (and funny in retrospect, on account of it being outrageous) memories from my time at Christ out of all the unpleasant experiences.

Thank you, author, for your voice.
Is that professor who was famous for pulling down a student's trousers still there? I think his case was dealt with like how church law deals with abusers. He was back in college within a month.
R/Kian, do you realise how serious this comment is? Someone is accusing a prof of physical sexual abuse. Hope you take action.
Now he will โ–ฎโ–ฎโ–ฎ i guess, Christ school promoted him apparently
That guy Pukhraj from SLCU has harassments charges pressed against him for underage drinking with 1st year UG kids. Still no action was taken, not to mention the fact that they constituted the internal inquiry committee only when another faculty threatened to involve police into the matter. His dissertation panel is full of female students who were constantly humiliated by this fellow to the point they were willing to quit course than work under him. Their reputation is far more important to them than the dignity of their students. Better stay away.