The Karnataka branch of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) alleged that colleges are targeting students for taking part in a bandh on December 17. NSUI State President Kirthi Ganesh appealed to teachers and colleges that students who have participated in the bandh not be given internal marks arbitrarily.

“College students have been facing several issues, especially the first batch who have the National Education Policy (NEP) curriculum. The students are still confused about their syllabus, are yet to receive textbooks and have not received their marks for a year, which has happened for the first time,” Kirthi told The New Indian Express. The bandh was aimed to address these issues and highlight the failure of the government to release scholarship funds and hike in government colleges fees by almost 100 per cent.

“The state-wide bandh had seen participation from almost 75 per cent of the colleges. A few PU colleges also voluntarily participated in the protest. Now, there are complaints from students that they are being targeted for participating in the bandh,” he said. Kirthi said that NSUI has received around 1,500 complaints from students, who have alleged that they are being targeted for taking part in the bandh, as stated in the TNIE report.

Students complain

“Students have alleged that teachers have either not awarded them internal marks or have threatened that their marks will be reduced as they had participated in the bandh which was against the government since a few faculty members are aligned with RSS. Other students have complained that they are confused as their attendance has been wrongly marked, especially for students in PU colleges,” he said.

Students have also alleged that the faculty have threatened to contact their parents and suspend them. “Students are facing a lot of issues including poor basic amenities in the colleges and failure to provide proper transport in rural areas. At least two lakh students have given up their education as they did not get their scholarships on time,” he said.