Ending the ten-day long impasse over ‘inadequate’ hostel facilities on its permanent campus at Periye, the Central University of Kerala (CUK) has decided to resume classes from Monday.
The decision on Sunday was arrived at after the Students Refugee Movement (SRM) urged the university to reopen as they no longer wanted to hamper academic activities. They also demanded that the authorities take swift steps to end the hostel crisis. The recently floated organisation was spearheading the agitation that eventually culminated into the indefinite closure of classes from July 21.
In an e-mail sent to the Dean of Students Welfare of the CUK late on Saturday, an SRM office-bearer said it had decided to step back from the ‘Occupy’ mode of protest on the condition that the administration would resume classes immediately.
The SRM represented the collective interests of students and did not wish to hinder studies, the message to University Registrar Radhakrishnan Nair said. “We hope that the administration will view this action as a positive step and continue the dialogue so that we can reach a viable solution,” SRM activist Vaishakh Vishwambharan said.
The academic activities on the CUK campuses in Periye, Vidya Nagar here, and Padnnakkad near Neeleswaram were suspended indefinitely after a section of students, including girls, began to stay overnight in classrooms, laboratories, and library halls on the first two days. The students’ action allegedly caused a great deal of inconvenience to the teaching and non-teaching staff. Vice Chancellor G. Gopakumar termed the development as infringing on the fundamental rights of the university staff as they were forced to stay back to take care of the ‘forcefully occupied’ space.
Promises
The authorities, during conciliatory talks held on the Periye campus on Thursday, made it clear that it had received over ₹16 crore from the Centre to build three more hostel blocks and the tendering process was progressing. The additional facility would be ready in a year.
The university, as a stopgap arrangement, urged the students to cooperate by accommodating three persons in a room and that additional facilities for reading and recreation would be made available in halls attached to the hostel.
It also assured them that furniture would be provided in the rented accommodation secured by students outside the campus. However, they initially refused to accede to the suggestions. Meanwhile, the National Students Union, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, and the Muslim Students Federation, in a joint letter to the Vice Chancellor recently, urged him to take steps to resume the classes as they no longer agreed to the mode of strike of the SRM.