The engineering students of the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Belagavi, Karnataka, staged a protest and submitted a memorandum to the government through the district administration of Belagavi on Wednesday, October 9, demanding a direction to the management of the VTU to remove the 'Year Back' system rule considering the future of the students.

The students who came from Bengaluru, Kolar, Gadag, Hassan, Bagalkote, Vijaypura, Belagavi and other parts of the district gathered at the Deputy Commissioner's office of Belagavi on Wednesday and staged a protest demanding to withdraw the 'Year Back' system, stated a report by The New Indian Express.

Students urged that they are worried as VTU has decided to implement the Year-Back rule, which penalises the students with more than four backlogs by preventing academic progression. This rule severely impacted 70 % of the student population.

The year-back system is applicable only for the 2022 scheme students and not for any other engineering schemes.

Therefore, they demand for the removal of the year-back system for 2022 scheme students.

This drastic measure of holding backlog students who are already facing academic challenges exacerbates their stress and hampers their psychological well-being.

The recent protest in Belagavi and other parts of the state are the reflection of the widespread frustration and helplessness felt by the students, who feel unfairly targeted by these rigid regulations, said the students and demanded the government to intervene in this matter and facilitate a constructive dialogue between students, VTU officials and education experts to find solution to this problem and improve the quality of education, stated The New Indian Express report.

VTU officials misbehave with agitating students

Meanwhile the students who went to the VTU campus in Belagavi to meet the university management over this matter were ill-treated by the VTU officials and security staff. The students alleged that they were beaten by the stick when they asked for a meeting to be arranged with the Vice-Chancellor of VTU.

Students Vanshi Reddy, Ranjit Gowda, Soubhagya, Chandan, Vishwa, Shreyas, Vivek, and many other students were present.