Students at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) have called out the university administration regarding the alleged alarming number of PhD dropouts belonging to SC/ST/OBC, religious minorities and other marginalised communities.

On Saturday, July 29, the UoH wing of the Bahujan Students’ Federation (BSF) launched a protest against the cancellation of more than 100 PhD admissions due to the aftermath of the pandemic.

The association highlighted that Rakhee Naiding, former president of BSF-HCU, who is a tribal scholar has also been denied to submit her thesis citing alleged “arbitrary rules”.

“A total of 107 PhD admissions have been cancelled in the aftermath of the pandemic. These students are from marginalised sections and their requests have gone unheeded by the administration despite repeated requests on their part on grounds of arbitrary technicalities,” a press release by the association read.

The association stressed the fact that students, especially from marginalised backgrounds, have had to undergo great ordeal during the pandemic and the cancellation of admissions has taken a further toll on their mental health due to grave uncertainties regarding their future.

Students also added that in previous years, scholars were allowed to submit their thesis even after several years of deregistration.

Other minority students’ associations like the All India OBC Students’ Association (AIOBCSA) have also extended support to the protest.

“We demand @HydUniv administration to immediately restore the cancelled admissions and allow submission of the thesis unconditionally. @aiobcsa extends complete support to @bsf_hcu protest call. Many cancelled  PhD students are from SC, ST and OBC communities,” the association tweeted