Student unrest gripped the Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University campus here on Wednesday after a fake placement issue came to the fore on Tuesday.
The irate students, who had returned disappointed from a Gurgaon company as the appointment letters issued to join the firm were fake, held a demonstration in the university campus along with their parents.
They demanded action from the university authorities, accusing them of playing with their careers in spite of their shelling out lakhs of rupees for their studies. During the demonstration, the students also scuffled with police personnel and asked them to park the police vehicles outside the campus.
Notably, 50 students, who were reportedly selected by the Gurgaon-based company Huawei during a recruitment drive in the university, found their offer letters fake and returned without getting jobs. The company officials told them that it has not conducted any recruitment drive in the university. Not only Huawei, as many as 400 students were also given offer letters from multinational companies like Mitsubishi, Intel and Honeywell that are allegedly fake. Meanwhile, the placement officer of the varsity has resigned from his post.
SOA Vice-Chancellor Amit Bannerjee said not only the students but the university itself is a victim of a conspiracy. “We will ensure that action is taken against the culprits, no matter they are from within the university or outside,” he said.
The university announced to provide a stipend of Rs 20,000 to students for engaging them as teaching assistants for a period of one year or till they get jobs, whichever is earlier. The entire course fee would be borne by the institution for those who wish to pursue MTech degree in ITER or SOA University.
ITER Dean PK Sahoo said, “We had a meeting with the VC in the presence of all HoDs. We have assured all students that we would give a stipend of Rs 20, 000 to students to be engaged as teaching assistants. We would also bear TA,DA of the students, who had gone to join the companies. We will always be in touch with the students.”
One platoon of police force was deployed as palpable tension continued in the campus.