The Degree Fair event that was organised today, Saturday, June 3, by the Delhi University’s School of Open Learning (SOL) was cancelled due to ‘mismanagement’, the students complained.
The two-day long event was to be scheduled on Saturday, June 3 and Sunday, June 4 to distribute UG/PG degrees to the students who graduated in 2022. The event was organised at the University Stadium in New Delhi.
The university, in a notice issued today, Saturday, June 3, said that the event has been halted with immediate effect due to ‘unavoidable circumstances’.
Students informed EdexLive that despite a huge number of graduates being invited to the event, there was a lack of crowd management at the venue which led to overcrowding. Students alleged that many of them were forced out of the venue forcefully by security personnel or not allowed to enter at all.
Anand Kumar, a student who was present at the Degree Fair on Saturday, June 3, claimed, “There must have been around 30,000-40,000 students at the venue. The queue was huge and though they were supposed to make separate queues for male and female students, all the students were forced into one single queue. The management was absolutely pathetic. In the end, only a few students received their degrees and the rest were thrown out forcefully, few of the students were injured as they were being dragged outside.”
Prior to the event, the graduates had been told to take an appointment through the university’s website by entering the necessary information. However, even after these prerequisites, more students were invited on Day 1 than the venue’s capacity leading to the scuffle.
“I came from Bihar only to get my degree. Many students who are from other states had to travel only for the event and now the university has informed us that the degrees will be dispatched via mail. This is unacceptable and should be addressed,” Anand added.
KYS demands action
Following the incident, Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS) has condemned the SOL’s administration for the mismanagement and has demanded that SOL Director, Payal Mago, be sacked immediately.
“The programme was highly mismanaged. We have received information that two of the students were beaten up by the police though we are unsure of the reason. We want to ensure that the authorities take responsibility for the matter,” said Bhim Kumar, Member, Delhi State Committee, KYS.
The student organisation added in a press release that the SOL administration must issue an immediate apology for causing distress to tens of thousands of students who arrived today for collecting their degrees.
KYS will be organising a protest demonstration in the coming week against massive irregularities and rampant corruption in SOL, the press release added.
