EFLU students resume protest for reopening of hostels
The students of English and Foreign Language University (EFLU) sat on a protest on Thursday demanding access to hostels for students who are facing issues at home and need to come back.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 25 Feb 2021 10:50 AM GMT
Hyderabad: The students of English and Foreign Language University (EFLU) sat on a protest on Thursday demanding access to hostels for students who are facing issues at home and need to come back.
This is the second sit-in protest after February 12 when the university administration met the protesting students and had asked them to come up with a detailed list of eligible candidates who need to come back.
The students said that they had submitted the same on February 18 with a detailed proposal about which students should be allowed to come back on campus considering that only 50 percent of the total students can be called back as per the latest UGC guideline.
"Even after we submitted our proposal on February 18, the administration did not want to meet us and provided no follow-ups on the proposal they asked us to make. On top of that, they released a circular regarding 'in-person classes' on February 18 evening completely circumventing our demands. The truth is that we never demanded the resumption of in-person classes in the first place. We have only been demanding access to the hostels and other facilities only for the students who are in need," said a representative of the EFLU students' action committee.
In order to present a comprehensive picture in the letter, the students had conducted a new survey with a total of 845 respondents in which around 522 of them said that they are in urgent need of a hostel. "Among those who require hostels, 20.9 percent of them are facing abusive behaviour at home including instances of physical violence. The physical and mental health of 13.6 percent of students has deteriorated due to the discriminatory behaviour by people in the locality on the basis of class, caste, gender, religion, sexuality, and so on. Hence, the hostel environment makes a significant difference for them," said the committee.
The survey also found that 62.1 percent of students feel that the lack of access to physical books, research material, and resources is hindering their research and dissertation work, and access to online material and PDFs is not enough to help them. This is because 43.9 percent of students lack access to adequate technology and stable network connectivity. "The list has mentioned 34 students with disabilities whose home environment is not conducive for their academic growth," said the committee.
