Reopen the varsity campus and resume offline classes sans delay : ABVP

New Delhi: Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) held a protest on Chhatra Marg, near Delhi University’s Arts Faculty, calling for an expeditious reopening of the varsity as well as the resumption of on-campus classes. The protesting students demanded the right to return to the varsity campus and recommence their studies in the offline mode at the earliest.

In addition to the phased reopening of the varsity in accordance with the prevailing public health guidelines and the immediate resumption of on-campus classes for the final-year students, the protesting students also agitated for the right to choose between online and offline modes as regards the term-end examinations, reopening of all libraries for a period of at least 12 hours each working day, reopening of all undergraduate and postgraduate hostels along with the prompt release of centralised PG hostel admission forms, timely declaration of pending end-semester examination results, a one-time additional opportunity for ex-students of the varsity to appear in qualifying examinations to secure their respective educational degrees and a pruned but adequate police presence within the campus precincts.

A delegation of ABVP office bearers called on the Proctor and Dean, Students Welfare and presented a memorandum of grievances. The meeting with the university officials was cordial and the delegation was assured that while the extant hostellers could continue to reside in the hostels as guests, appropriate arrangements for the permanent stay of first year students will be made after the conclusion of their term-end examinations in March. Furthermore, the library timings would be extended, e-library facility would come into being from the first week of March and the second phase of the campus reopening process, already underway in the present month, would also be completed by March. The delegation also apprised the Proctor of the high-handed approach of the law enforcement officials and specifically demanded a pruned but adequate police presence within the campus, failing which ABVP will conduct a gherao of the local police station to register its dissatisfaction with the peremptory and abusive behaviour of the police officials. The Proctor assured that the university administration will consult the concerned police officials and the grievances would be promptly redressed.

Sidharth Yadav, State Secretary, ABVP Delhi, said, “The pandemic is behind us and we are in the home stretch to comprehensive recovery and growth. In these circumstances, the resumption of on-campus classes becomes imperative to arrest the slide in the learning curve of students brought about by a combination of factors like the unavailability of costly textbooks due to closure of libraries, noticeable absence of doubt-clearing sessions and unequal access to online classroom instructions in view of the predominant digital divide. While we have pushed for an expeditious reopening of the varsity, we have not insisted on compulsory attendance. Post-resumption, the university administration must ensure the continued availability of virtual classroom instructions and on-campus attendance for students should remain voluntary. Our meeting with the officials of the varsity was promising and we are hopeful that the process of reopening of the campus will be set in motion sans further delay to safeguard the interests of the student community.”