The State Government conceded most of the demands of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) after a massive demonstration by the students body of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here on Wednesday.
State higher education Minister Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya announced revival of students’ council elections and scrapping of semester system in State colleges from next academic session after reaching the demonstration site. The minister reached the demonstration site on demand of the agitating students without making any delay.
The massive protest by the students’ body was being watched with interest because ABVP being a sister organisation of the BJP and it was protesting against its own party government. The initiative by the higher education minister to resolve the demands thus did not come as a big surprise.
The ABVP was holding the demo to press its 35-point demands focused at affordable and quality education, flushing out the education mafia and pro-student policies. The minister also assured students that the admission procedure would be simplified.
Notably, currently the admissions are done in colleges through centralised online process. Pawaiya also said that the issue of hiking the scholarships of SC/ST students would be taken up before the State cabinet and efforts would be made to fill in all vacant posts of college principals.
At least 10,000 ABVP activists and students had gathered at Kaliyasot Dussehra ground on Wednesday morning and held a public meeting addressed by national general secretary Vinay Bidre and state level office bearers.
later the activists marched through the city roads before being stopped at Tin Shed by the police. Here the ABVP activists got a big aggressive, but soon the situation was controlled as Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya reached out to the demonstrators.
Students’ council polls were discontinued in MP since academic session 2012-13 despite a MP High Court order in 2009 that direct elections according to lyngdoh committee recommendations should be held in state colleges.
Between 2008-09 and 2010-11, students’ council were formed through nominations but in session 2011-12, students were allowed to elect their class representatives (CRs) and these elected representatives further elected office bearers (president, vice-president, secretary, joint-secretary) among themselves.
Similar indirect elections to students’ councils were in vogue from 1998 to 2008. But the students’ organizations have been demanding direct polls where students are allowed to elect their CRs as well as the office-bearers.