Engineering students from the Visvesraya Technical University (VTU) are at the end of their tether, with seemingly no solution to their existing problem.
These students belonging to different districts in Karnataka such as Bengaluru, Kolar, Gadag, Hassan, Bagalkote, Vijaypura, and Belagavi are protesting against the “draconian” 'Year Back' system, that does not allow a student to be promoted to the next academic year if they fall short of semester credits.
Academic bias
This set of afflicted students on Wednesday, October 9 had travelled to Belagavi to raise their qualms with the administration.
One of the students from the delegation, Vamshi, told EdexLive that they had to travel a distance of 700 kilometers to the VTU head office at Belagavi as the regional office paid no heed to them.
They submitted a memorandum to the administration requesting a retraction, arguing that the system was not applied to any other engineering programmes but solely to these students, highlighting the decision's apparent bias.
This has further created academic challenges for the students, resulting in the increase of their stress levels. They claim that they are being "targeted" by these rigid regulations that have been put into motion by the administration arbitrarily.
Typically, other universities allow students to clear their backlogs while continuing their current semester studies, preventing them from facing an academic gap.
Part of a larger issue
Sharan, a first-year student at VTU, is among the ones who may have to miss an academic year due to the rule. He informed EdexLive that this is part of a larger issue that the students have to face every year.
"It becomes quite difficult to pass papers, and we are forced to go through re-evaluation. This is not only true for me, but several other students did not receive passing marks but were granted grace marks after the evaluation." He further questions, "Why not grant us our deserving marks in the first place, instead of making us go through re-evaluation?"
Vamshi claims this is the administration's way of extorting more money. "Sometimes students see a difference of about 20 to 30 marks in their paper. Can this be called normal?" he retorts.
According to these students, there has been a loss of life as well in the Bangalore campus as the student was unable to bear that he had failed when the results were published on Saturday, October 5.
The issue is currently affecting close to 6,000 students at the university.
Admin in complete disregard
The students claim that the administration is in complete disregard, and has not addressed their problem yet. Whilst at Belagavi, the delegates said that they were heckled by the security, when they requested to meet the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Dr Vidyashankar S.
Sharan laments that one of the officials from the Belagavi office, in total disregard, allegedly said, "If you (the students) want to take your life, you can, because the administration will not take its decision back," showing no empathy to them.
After receiving no assurance from the administration, the students also wrote to Belagavi's District Commissioner (DC), Mohammad Roshan, on October 7 addressing the issue. The DC met the delegation and assured them of a speedy solution.
While the delegation is back in Bengaluru, they are to continue their protests unless the system is declared null.
An added burden of student loan
Vamshi, also a first-year VTU student, sharing the plight of his classmates, told EdexLive that it is quite unfortunate for many as they have student loans on them, and repeating an academic year would mean additional expenses. "Many come from families where their parents are daily wagers or are farmers. Due to this system, now they might have to drop out as they cannot bear a year's expense in addition to the existing loans, how is it justifiable for these first-year students?" he shares.
The students are trying to facilitate further constructive dialogue with the administration to come to a solution that would benefit the university as well as the students.
EdexLive tried establishing contact with the VTU VC for a response. The copy will be updated once a response is received.
