SC students to stage state-wide stir if demands not met
While listing their demands, the SC pupils said they wanted immediate release of their degrees from various universities and affiliated colleges in Punjab.
A coordination committee of Scheduled Caste (SC) students on Tuesday announced to stage protest against the state government over non-disbursal of funds under the SC postmatric scholarship scheme.
Having support of Bahujan Samaj Party, the committee members said during a press conference here that if the Punjab government failed to consider their demands by the March 31, they would start a state-wide stir.
While listing their demands, the SC pupils said they wanted immediate release of their degrees from various universities and affiliated colleges in Punjab. They asked for implementation of the postmatric scholarship scheme in a transparent manner so that the beneficiaries didn’t face harassment. They demanded curbs on private institutions hiking fees arbitrarily and extending national fellowship to SC students enrolled in PhD programmes, adding that UGC-NET should not be considered as the only selection criteria for the fellowship.
Prince, a committee member, said that thousands of SC students across the state were being humiliated by private colleges over pending dues, non-disbursal of scholarship and withholding of degrees, putting their future at stake.
BSP leader Balwinder Kumar asked the government to find a permanent solution to the students’ issues and take these private colleges to task.