The students of Bengaluru Dr BR Ambedkar School of Economics (BASE) who were on protest for the last five days have called off the protest temporarily after meeting state higher education and social welfare ministers on Monday.
Following the media reports, the state higher education minister GT Devegowda communicated to the protesting students on Saturday and requested to call off the protest. When students refused to do so, he gave them an appointment to meet at his office. Following the appointment, students met the Minister at Vidhan Soudha on Monday where even minister for social welfare Priyanka Kharge was also present.
Speaking after meeting the ministers, students said, " as the Ministers assured us to address all our demands and social welfare minister asked us to meet him again on Sunday, we have decided to call off the protest till Sunday."
Meanwhile, on Saturday even the in charge director of the institute Lakshmi Narayana also met students and heard their grievances. Students were on protest since Thursday late in the afternoon.
One of the major demands of the students is the change of existing administrative setup. "This is not the first time we are demanding justice, we tried to communicate to the authorities concerned orally, as our voice is constantly being suppressed we were forced to stage a protest," says students.
Meanwhile, students demanded a fully legitimate marks cards. As explained by students, the marks cards provided to them have nothing authentic on it. "The marks cards issued by the institute has nothing on it, not even a logo of the institute. We need marks cards from BASE along with a logo as an autonomous institute," students explained.
Students alleged that the institute is changing the examination pattern. for every semester since the inception of the institute. We demand sensible examination manual which should be prepared to keep in mind the genuine concerns raised by faculty and students," they added.
"All these we have explained to ministers and they assured of addressing the same," said students.