Students give university bandh call as hunger strike enters 10th day
Amritsar, August 3
The hunger strike by students at Guru Nanak Dev University entered its 10th day as the students seem adamant on their ‘no-compromise’ stand on their demand. Calling for university bandh on Monday, three students — Jaskaran Singh Zra, Karanvir Singh and Gurwinder Singh —have been sitting on hunger strike, seeking revival of reservation on admission for students from border rural belt and from families’ affected by 1984 riots.
While the university authorities and protesting student faction from SATH seemed to have agreed on the demand of reservation, the students later accused the university authorities of misleading and diluting their demands. The authorities had written to the Secretary of Higher Education Punjab as they pass the parcel to the state government for policy related decisions on fee hike and student reservation.
“This is a regular method adopted by the university whenever we raise any demand for student welfare. We were told that a meeting will be arranged with Kamal Kishore, Secretary, Higher Education Punjab, but it will happen only after August 20. From last two years, many students hailing from border villages in the district have not been able to take admission in the course of their choice due to high fee and the criterion of Common Entrance Test made mandatory. Students from border belt usually come with limited educational background and tend to lag behind. They cannot compete with other students seeking admission through CET. This particular reservation was in place till 2017,” said Jaskaran, who is a student of Bachelors in Social Science II at GNDU. — TNS
