Osmania University (OU) is again witnessing protests on its premises in front of its Vice-Chancellor's building, today, September 17. Hostel facilities have been a concern at Osmania for quite some time now and on and off protests have been staged on the premises of the campus. This time, the first-year students are protesting after they learnt that from their second year onwards, they would be shifted from the new Centenary building to the old building of the Ladies Hostel Complex. It may be noted that the old building is usually assigned to second-year students. They are also protesting because they have only two to three days to evacuate their rooms.
What the students have to say
“When we took our admissions, this new building is the one we saw. Now shifting to the old building which already has so many issues is not something we are okay with,” says Jadala Sandhya, a first-year student of Journalism and adds, “It was the same hostel where we recently had the issue where students found glass bangle piece in food.”
The students are also demanding an extension for their lodging at the hostel for another month so that they can attempt their Group 1 exam of Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC). Officials, however, find this demand unreasonable as such norms never existed in the university and an extension would require extra funding which is not how the University works.
Official's point of view
“We run on government funding and it costs us about a lakh per day. Providing these students hostel extension for competitive exams does not fall in the domain of our duties,” says Director of women’s hostels Dr Hima Bindu. She goes on to add, “The students have to pay only Rs 1,600 or Rs 1,700 rupees a month and that covers all the facilities they get here. We try to give the best that we can within the capacity of our budget.”
Although Dr Bindu acknowledges that things aren’t always perfect, she also insists that students can get unreasonable with their demands at times. She refers to the bangle glasses in the food issue, which she shared pictures of with EdexLive, to say, “There was one bangle piece that we found in the food and that was immediately catered to by providing fresh food but the students exaggerated it with pictures of food plates containing so many pieces of glass bangles. How is that even possible?”
Further, when asked about students being reluctant about shifting hostels she says, “Initially, they were unwilling to shift to the new building because it is a little far off, students staged protests for that as well. Now they don’t want to shift to the main old building. How would we keep up with all the demands like this?”
Other demands of the students
The first-year students completed their exams on September 15 and were asked to evacuate their rooms within the next two or three days. This has also been difficult for a couple of students and they demand a few days of extension to be able to make different arrangements. “We demand at least a five-day extension because we cannot immediately arrange for accommodation outside. Also, we are not economically that well off to afford hostels outside,” says another first-year journalism student on the condition of anonymity.
Additionally, as the protests continue, the official alludes that these protests might have a different agenda, “There are a lot of internal politics on the campus that instigate these protests. Few male student leaders have a personal grievance because we refused their request of having boarders from outside the university,” adds the Director of the women’s hostel.
Despite what the officials have to say, the issue of food and hygiene is pertinent and has been a constant issue on the Osmania campus. Most of the students agree that the food quality could be better.
