In light of the ongoing protests at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) by the Bachelor's in Vocational Course (BVOC) students, the university issued a notice warning the protestors to call off the sit-in protest before Wednesday evening, August 2, which is, today.
The students at BHU have been protesting for almost a month against the alleged cancellation of their course by the university.
On Saturday, July 29, students from the BVOC course gathered in protest at the BHU front gate. After this, the university issued a notice to the protestors asking them to vacate the protest site.
“You are directed to withdraw from the Vice-Chancellor's residence along with your supporting students by the evening of 02.08.2023 and allow the traffic to operate smoothly, otherwise legal action will be taken against you as per university rules, for which, the responsibility will be completely yours,” the notice, which is in Hindi, read.
The notice added that traffic movement has been affected due to the protest.
Students react…
The protesting students have called the notice authoritarian in nature.
“This is a dictatorship. The university administration has been warning us that if we do not call off the protests, a police case will be filed against all the students. BHU is a renowned institute and so many students come here for higher education. But when we try to put forward our concerns they try to stop us. What is the use of such education?” alleges Ankit Roshan, a first-year BVOC student at BHU.
Students claim that a police case has already been filed against a few of them who are protesting.
They added that there have been instances of manhandling and harassment by the university’s administration and security staff leading to injuries.
“We do not plan to call off the protest but looking at the situation, we might need to vacate the protest site today. The police have also been asking us to compromise and quit the protests,” added Ankit.
Background
The students at BHU started their protest one month ago highlighting various issues with the vocational courses at BHU.
The students stressed that despite it being a practical-focused course, the university has not been offering internships or practical opportunities to the students. Moreover, the students highlighted that there is no dedicated placement cell for BVOC students.
The protests were temporarily called off when the university assured them that it will address these concerns by forming a committee.
“Vocational courses usually have faculty members who have industry experience but that was not the case here. That is why we started the protest. BHU formed a committee to analyse the problems with the vocational courses and the committee was asked to submit a report in 20 days. However, the committee has faculty members from other departments who have no idea about our concerns and issues,” said the student.
Now it is alleged that the course has been cancelled.
