Students want institutes reopened

Tribune News Service

Patiala, March 30

Members of various student political parties at Punjabi University and various colleges in the region today held protests outside the district administrative complexes in the state against the government’s decision to keep educational institutions shut due to Covid-19.

They said education was being disrupted through such decisions.

Amandeep Singh of the PSU said nine student political parties collectively held the protest. “The protests were organised at district administrative complexes across the state and other sub-divisional offices where the students submitted their demands to the SDMs concerned,” he said.

Students alleged that the educational institutions had been kept shut in view of the pandemic while other government departments were functioning as usual. “Currently, there is no structure for holding online classes. Education is being affected. The state government should consider our demands and reopen the institutes,” they said.

Amandeep Singh said more than 200-300 students participated in the protest outside the Mini-Secretariat in Patiala. “Similar protests were organised in Ghanaur and Patran towns where the students submitted their demands with the SDMs,” he said.

Patiala SDM Charanjit Singh said the decisions to keep educational institutions closed were taken according to the state government’s orders. “Also, there have been instances of virus spread at educational institutions as well. The decisions have been taken to contain the spread as we have online education as a substitute to offline classes,” he said. He said the threat of Covid-19 spread was looming large over people and they needed to remain cautious.