Students of the University of Delhi are on a hunger strike at the Arts Faculty for 48 hours from October 25 demanding immediate reopening of the campus. They plan to submit a petition to the DU Registrar Vikas Gupta and meet him. The protest has been initiated by several students' organisations including the All India Students' Association (AISA), the Collective, Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch, Disha, Pachhas, Democratic Students' Union and VCF.
_.jpeg?w=640&auto=format%2Ccompress)
The students said that even after filing several petitions, delegations and protests, the DU Registrar Vikas Gupta had issued a notification on September 6 regarding 'phased reopening' of DU, it's been close to two months since then, "no steps have been taken for the return of students following safety precautions''. The few libraries, laboratories and hostels that have opened have imposed ad hoc restrictions on students, said the students. "Several colleges across DU also saw continued fee hikes despite the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. Meanwhile, anti-student policies such as FYUP, MEEC and ABC schemes as well as changes in the syllabus have been implemented by the administration during this period," said a protesting student.
The students said that they want the administration to initiate phased reopening of all campus facilities and resuming physical classes following safety norms. "No ad-hoc restrictions should be imposed on accessing campus facilities like laboratories, libraries and hostels. The DU Central Library should be open 24x7. Moreover, the anti-student FYUP, ABC, MEEC and NEP 2020 should be repelled," said Sourya Majumder, a student of Sociology at JNU and a member of the Collective.
While the students have demanded to meet the Registrar, they have not been allowed in yet. "A meeting has not been allowed yet. So far we have been barricaded in," said Sourya.
