VTU VC says miscommunication led to students being forced out of govt hostels: Students can stay till May 4

The food will be provided in these hostels and all the guidelines must be followed as per the SOPs released to control the spread of COVID-19  
Dr Karisiddappa, VTU, Vice-Chancellor (Picture: Express)
Dr Karisiddappa, VTU, Vice-Chancellor (Picture: Express)

Engineering students who stay in hostels attached to VTU will be allowed to stay in their rooms till May 4, according to sources. 

On Thursday, when engineering students living in government hostels were forced to vacate the hostels and leave for their homes, there was chaos. As a result, students were not only angry but they were frustrated with the decision of the Government of Karnataka. After realising the impact, the government and the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) authorities changed their decision and asked the students to continue staying in hostels temporarily. 

Dr Karisiddappa, Vice-Chancellor of the (VTU), said that the decision was taken to help students transition home with less duress, "We know that students are going through psychological stress due to exams and COVID-19. Hence, we have made necessary arrangement for them to stay at hostels. Currently, offline exams for first semester students are going on. While they have completed writing four subjects, exams for two more subjects are pending. The remaining two exams will be completed by April 30. And the students will be going back to their homes."

He also added that the students will be attending online classes from May 19 for their second semester. This year, a total of 42,000 students have written first semester exams across the state. However, the second-semester students who had failed Maths paper 2 will be writing this exam on May 3."

When asked if it is true that these students were forced to vacate hostels, he said, "There was some miscommunication in this regard between the hostel in-charge officials and students. As per the data that we have, at least 60 to 65 students are staying in the Government hostels meant for SC/ST and Other Backward Classes (OBC). Yesterday afternoon, as soon as I got to know about the news of students being forced to vacate hostels, I coordinated with CN Ashwathnarayan, Minister for Higher Education. We called up the district commissioners and informed them not to force students to leave hostels. They are free to stay until they complete their exams. We have also released a separate letter for all the hostel wardens and district commissioners."

As per the copy available with Edexlive, the Backward Classes Welfare Department, Government of Karnataka has instructed the college to keep these government hostels until May 4, 2021. The food will be provided in these hostels and all the guidelines must be followed as per the SOPs released against COVID-19. 

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