In a move, which can be called as unprecedented unity of students in the recent times, students from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and other institutions formed a human chain in Delhi’s Connaught Place on Wednesday to mark their protest against the fee hike and ‘patriarchal’ hostel rules at the JNU campus.
The protest comes a day after the JNU Students Union urged universities and students across India to observe November 27 as the ‘National Protest Day’ in support of affordable and accessible education.
Carrying banners with messages like ‘oppose new education policy 2019’, ‘extremists have shown what frightens them most — a girl with a book’, ‘fee must fall’, the students formed a human chain around Central Park in the Inner Circle area of Connaught Place. They were beating tambourine and raising slogans of ‘halla bol’.
“The students want complete rollback of the fee hike. The JNU movement has led to positive changes in IIT and AIIMS and we are happy. ‘The Fee Must Fall movement’ was not for the JNU but for the entire country and today, JNU alumni in West Bengal walked for us in support,” said JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh.
She said that the JNU is not an island and whatever is happening in the university is also happening in other educational institutions.
“We appeal that the recommendations of the HRD high-powered committee be made public. We are thinking to writing to the ministry to make them public,” the JNUSU president added.
The three-member committee, comprising former UGC chairman VS Chauhan, AICTE chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe and UGC secretary Rajnish Jain, was set up on November 18 to recommend ways to end the impasse between university administration and students over a hostel fee hike. It has already submitted its report to the ministry.
Karthik Ray, an IP university student, said it is time to raise voice against the fee hike. “Our university has also raised the fee this August. We have also been fighting against the fee hike at our level,” he said.
The simmering discontent among the JNU students community against the university administration over the proposed fee hike took form of a massive protest on November 11 with students registering their protest in front of Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister on the day of the ‘convocation’.
On November 13, JNU Executive Council (EC) in a meeting held outside the University campus decided to partially rollback the hike in hostel fees. Following the meeting on November 13, the Executive Committee came up with the new proposal, which said the rent for a double-seater room which was raised from Rs 10 per month earlier to Rs 300 in the draft has been reduced to Rs 100 a month while the rent for the single-seater room, proposed at Rs 600 from Rs 20 per month earlier, has been reduced to Rs 200 per month.
The committee also proposed a new scheme for economic assistance to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) students. “The newly introduced service charges of Rs 1,700 for sanitation, maintenance, cook, mess helper has not been rolled back nor reduced,” said a student.
The university announcement of partial rollback and removal of clauses pertaining to the dress code and curfew has been termed by students as ‘eyewash’ and they have been demanding a complete ‘rollback’ of the manual.