Protests demanding resumption of offline classes at Delhi University raged in North Campus for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, with student outfits adopting various ways to make the authorities adhere to their demands.
The Students' Federation of India (SFI) started ‘Sadak Par Kaksha’ campaign where Miranda House professor Abha Dev Habib spoke on the functioning of the university’s academic council and upcoming changes in its educational system.
Protests demanding resumption of offline classes at Delhi University raged in North Campus for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, with student outfits adopting various ways to make the authorities adhere to their demands.
Habib highlighted the "undemocratic tendencies” of the academic council and called the introduction of four year undergraduate programme (FYUP) and Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET) as “anti-student” policies.
"The authorities have not accomodated the opinions of various stakeholders and are imposing their decisions upon the student and teaching community in an autocratic fashion. Students are resolved to continue their fight for their rightful access to education," she said.
Pritish Menon, SFI Delhi State Secretary, said, "We must not mystify the reasons behind the push for online education by the Delhi University (DU) administration. It is amply clear that this is only in alignment with National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, to dissolve the need for investment in infrastructure.
“Keeping students off campus is only a deliberate action intended to aid the implementation of policies directed by NEP 2020, as protesting students are a nuisance to them," he said. The Sadak Par Kaksha campaign will continue outside 10 colleges of the varsity on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) continued its indefinite hunger strike for the second day over the matter. The Left-affiliated All India Students Association (AISA) organised a ‘chakka jam’ outside the Arts Faculty demanding the resumption of offline classes.
The Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS) on Wednesday gheraoed Shastri Bhawan, which houses the office of Union Ministry of Education, to register their protest. Protestors also tonsured their heads to mark the protest. "Online education cannot substitute the quality of education given in classroom teaching," they said.
With inputs from PTI.