Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists launched a protest at the University Hyderabad Central University (HCU) Today, Thursday, May 4, demanding changes in the exam pattern for PhD entrance in some of the departments.
The activists said that unlike most of the central universities in India, some of the departments at HCU do not conduct an entrance exam for PhD courses in multiple-choice questions (MCQ)-based pattern.
“At HCU, seven out of the 42 departments are still not following the MCQ pattern for PhD admissions. We feel that an objective paper is more transparent since the faculty is not involved in the evaluation. Moreover, since it is a central university, a large number of students from the rural background also apply for admission. But they usually face issues with the language while writing longer answers and other students get an upper hand,” said Akash Bhati, ABVP HCU Unit Secretary.
Bhati added that since most of the universities follow the objective pattern, it is an added pressure for the students applying to HCU to prepare for subjective questions. The students demanded that a uniform exam pattern be followed at the university for admission into PhD courses.
Today, ABVP activists claimed that they met Prof BJ Rao, Vice-Chancellor of the university as well as the heads of departments (HOD) to raise their concerns.
“There is discrimination at the university on the basis of language barrier. Even UGC recommends the question papers be available in both English and local language but even that is not being followed by the institute. The issue needs to be addressed,” Bhati added.
Other issues
However, the issue is not just limited to the exam pattern. The protestors added many hospitals and institutes that offer internships to HCU students in the Department of Optometry and vision sciences are charging fees.
“The university should take a stand on this issue and provide suitable internships to the students since the internship is a part of the course structure. Some students have had to pay Rs 1,20,000 to get an internship and then they have to pay the semester fees to the university also,” Bhati alleged.
Students added that the internship will be starting in July and the issue has not yet been addressed by the university.
Moreover, the protestors added that since there has not been any appointment to the post of Controller of Examination at the university, many exam and fee-related processes have been delayed.
Currently, the university registrar is sharing the responsibilities of both positions, the student claimed.
“There has been a delay in the semester result because of this. The semester ended in January and we received the results yesterday,” Bhatti informed further.
Living conditions in hostels
Moreover, the protestors also highlighted the poor living conditions at the university hostels. There are a total of 22 hostels at the university, out of which 10 are women’s hostels.
“There are water leakage and hygiene issues at the hostels. Despite the cleaning staff coming five days a week, the issues are not being addressed. Not only this, none of the hostels have mosquito nets installed in the windows. Since there is a forest area around the campus, there are a lot of mosquitoes and the students are not able to open the windows in this heat,” he claimed.
Bhati alleged that there is a staff shortage at the mess also which is leading to low-quality food and health issues among the students.
EdexLive has reached out to Hyderabad Central University for a comment on the issue raised by the students. The story will be updated when we receive a response.
