The indefinite strike by students of Delhi School of Journalism (DSJ) for better facilities is being taken up by student organisations as an example of why self-financing courses should not be introduced in Delhi University (DU).
The All India Students’ Association (AISA) on Friday said the peaceful protest by the students for basic infrastructure, such as labs, has been met with violent reactions from the DU administration.
“DSJ has one of the highest fees for any course in DU — over ₹70,000 annually. Despite the high fees, the students don’t even have proper classrooms, let alone other basic infrastructure like laboratories,” said AISA activists.
The students have been protesting against the high fees and poor quality of education at DSJ since the institute took in its first batch last year.
‘Hiding incompetency’
The students claimed that after admissions for the second batch closed, the administration attempted to stop interactions between second-year students and freshers in an “attempt to hide the incompetency of the Department from freshers”.
DSJ students said they took out peaceful protests following this but the administration called the police, who allegedly physically assaulted them.
The AISA said DSJ was in line with the attempts by the BJP government to start self-financing courses, withdraw funds from higher educational, make universities take loans from the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA), and force financial autonomy on colleges/universities that will lead to fee hikes.
The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) also showed solidarity with the protesting students.
‘Backdoor privatisation’
“No institute can run without a well-stocked library, media lab and teaching equipment. Students are currently being taught how to use Photoshop using a blackboard,” said the organisation.
The NSUI also condemned the DU Vice-Chancellor for not giving the students an appointment to meet him.
“The NSUI is against backdoor privatisation of public universities through introduction of self-financing courses. We believe that education is a public good that is essential for socio-economic mobility and as such the State should not offload its responsibility onto poor students,” said the NSUI.
Talking to students
When contacted, DSJ officials said they were in a dialogue with the students and said that they have already assured them of better facilities.