Led by the All India Democratic Students' Organisation (AIDSO), the students primarily protested in demand of the appointment of more teachers in the college, so that classes can be conducted properly.
In addition, the students also called for the upcoming semester-end exams to be postponed.
Elaborating more on these demands, Subhash, District Secretary of AIDSO in Mysuru alleges that a majority of the teaching staff at Maharaja College comprises guest faculty. “Only 20 per cent of the teachers occupy permanent positions in the college,” he says. Moreover, he adds that these guest faculty members are not teachers from the University of Mysuru, to which Maharaja's College is affiliated.
Highlighting the extent of this problem, he claims that there aren’t any full-time teachers for the majority of subjects in the college.
To add to that, the college announced exams in December, despite it being only one-and-a-half months since the academic year started.
“Without proper teaching staff, the students are not prepared to appear for the exams, as the course syllabus isn’t being adequately taught. As a result, it is our demand that Maharaja's College postpone the exam by two weeks,” Subhash says.
In addition, he also adds that the protesting students demand that sufficient teachers be appointed in the college.
Other demands
In addition, the protestors demanded the improvement and access to basic facilities like drinking water, washrooms, daily newspapers in the library, and computers.
“The classrooms are not properly maintained, and the washrooms are not clean and hygienic,” Subhash says.
The students also demanded that the library be stocked with newspapers and that they could access the computer laboratory of the college.
“Students pay for magazines and newspapers as part of their fees, but they are not supplied. Similarly, students pay Rs 1,500 as a fee to use the computer facilities but cannot use the computers,” Subhash explains.
Response from the management
When AIDSO, on behalf of the protesting students, submitted a memorandum of their demands to the principal, the vice-chancellor, and the proctor of the college, they were assured that the demands would be looked into and that the problems would be solved.
In September, AIDSO had staged another protest at Maharaja's College against the fee hike of Rs 3,000 to the fees for Arts and Commerce undergraduate (UG) students.
