Demanding the immediate reopening of Delhi University, protesting students burnt the effigy of vice-chancellor (V-C) Yogesh Singh and criticised him for avoiding a dialogue with students despite the month-long protest.
Several student organizations staged a march on Wednesday to lobby for the reopening of the University of Delhi campus and to mark a month of their protest against the continued closure of colleges, despite the number of Covid-19 cases remaining low in the capital in recent months. For the past month, groups of students have been demonstrating in front of the Faculty of Arts to ask for the resumption of classes in person.
Demanding the immediate reopening of Delhi University, the student protesters burned the effigy of Vice-Chancellor (V-C) Yogesh Singh and criticized him for avoiding dialogue with students despite the month of protest. Representatives of various organizations such as the left-wing student formations AISA and SFI, among others, took part in the strike and stressed the urgent need to reopen the campus.
The protesting students have said they will not give up until a notice describing resuming in-person classes is posted. “Even during exam season, students continued their education from the protest site. We will continue the fight until a notice of reopening is published, ”said protesting student associations in a joint statement.
The students were also joined by the Indian Forum for the Right to Education (AIFRE). A delegation from AIFRTE also met with the dean and vice-rector to voice concerns regarding the reopening of the university and other issues related to the implementation of the national education policy and curriculum. four-year undergraduate course at the DU starting next year.
“At a time of the worsening digital divide, the question of reopening campuses is becoming more and more relevant. Students, especially those from Dalit and Adivasi communities, remote areas and groups of people with disabilities are totally deprived of their right to education, ”AIFRE said in a written statement Tuesday.
Colleges at the University of Delhi were closed last year in March following the pandemic. While colleges began practical sessions earlier this year in February, sessions were canceled in March after the start of the fourth wave of Covid in Delhi. In September, the University of Delhi allowed final year undergraduate and postgraduate students to return to campus for practical and lab work as part of a phased reopening plan.
DU Colleges Dean Balaram Pani previously told HT that classes will continue in online mode for the time being, as there was uncertainty over the Covid situation in different parts of the country.
Read More:-TNPSC CCS Review: Phase II consultation dates posted on tnpsc.gov.in
