Hyderabad: Around 100 women students of the Arts and Science colleges of Osmania University protested the university’s order asking them to vacate their hostels, along with their luggage, overnight.
The order was allegedly issued on Friday night, on the grounds that the semester ended.
The students, who were staying at the centenary block of the hostel, staged a sit-in protest and blocked the campus road, raising slogans against officials on Saturday. They contended that many students had already gone home for the semester break and that belongings couldn’t be cleared.
The protesters said that they were previously assured of not being forced out of their hostel and that this was the first such instance as they used to leave behind their belongings during previous summer breaks.
Further, they alleged that the university was planning on converting it to a men’s hostel and moving the women to an older building, which is riddled with issues ranging from poor washrooms to bad food.
One of the protesting students said that despite it being a semester break, many students wanted to stay on campus to prepare for Group 1 SI and constabulary exams.
“Our Vice Chancellor (VC) encourages students to clear these exams, but now he is not supporting us. The exam will be held next month and we need to stay here on campus to prepare for it. We can’t go home and prepare and we cannot afford to stay elsewhere, as almost all students come from middle-class families,” said the student.
To dissuade protest, the dean of student affairs Prof. B. Rajendra Naik met the students and assured them that they could stay on till September 25 and that a decision on the hostel building for the next semester would be taken later.
However, the students did not budge, calling for the VC to assure them of the allotment of the centenary block building for the next semester. But, the VC’s phone was switched off when they tried calling him.
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