University of Hyderabad students protest against quarantine charges, demand proper facilities

The University of Hyderabad (UoH) student's union has condemned the move by the varsity authorities to levy COVID-19 quarantine charges on students. The union on Thursday urged Vice Chancellor P Appa Rao to immediately drop the charges and provide proper quarantine facilities with subsistence, either in hostels or at guest houses free of charge.

Students' union president Abhishek Nandan said the varsity authorities were levying Rs 500 as quarantine charges per day. In a letter to the vice chancellor, the union said that in the current unprecedented conditions it is not possible for students to pay so much for their quarantine. He pointed out that the students who were quarantined were not even provided food and other facilities. Terming the collection of charges as unjust, the students' body urged the student community to oppose such moves by the administration and to refuse to pay such unjust charges levied by the university.

The union also called for a social media protest on Thursday to press for its demands ahead of the meeting of Academic Council scheduled to be held on December 22. The union's representatives have met the Deans of School of Humanities and School of Social Sciences and the HoDs of all departments in both these schools with the representation containing demands to be discussed in the AC meeting. The union is also demanding steps to fill all the vacant MPhil/PhD seats, fill all the vacant masters seats by operating waiting seats, scrap 50 per cent and 45 per cent minimum eligibility criteria for M Phil/PhD interview and extension to all MPhil/PhD scholars.

It claimed that the UGC regulation 2016 to implement minimum qualifying criteria in MPhil/PhD entrances resulted in large number of research seats in the university remaining vacant. The implementation of such a draconian regulation amid the pandemic is insensitive and discriminatory. The other demands of the union include resolving online classes issues, implementation of COVID-19 prevention protocol, better healthcare facilities, phase-wise reopening of campus for all disciplines, relaxation of tuition fee, lab fee, development fee, zero backlog issue and optometry internship issue.