The students belonging to the R18 batch of the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) Hyderabad took out a protest today, October 18. They were demanding subject exemption in their recently concluded semester exams. The protest was held outside the JNTUH main gate at about 1 pm, Shahazan Khan, a student of the batch informed. "About 70-80 students participated in the protest," he said.

Khan added that the police arrived on the spot to control the situation and students were taken into custody. "They were detained for some time at the police station, but now everyone has been released," Shahazan said.

The R18 batch of students has been asking the university for subject exemption, a policy which was in effect till the last batch of students earned their degrees. However, it was stopped for the R18 batch, in line with the AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) guidelines. The students, however, stated that they were unaware of the halt and demanded that the policy be restored.

According to the subject exemption policy, if a student is unable to attain a minimum number of credits in a subject, they can drop the subject and be eligible to get promoted. The university, responding to the students' demands, had stated at the time that the syllabus was already reduced considering the COVID-19 pandemic and thus subject exemption wouldn't be granted. Nonetheless, the students persist in their demands and have been holding protests over it, the latest one being today. Last week, on October 10, they met the VC and discussed the issue. Shahazan informs that they are yet to receive a response from the university.