Art Exhibitions at College of Art in New Delhi. (Express Photo By Amit Mehra) Students from the College of Art (COA) will protest outside the residence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at Saturday noon against the Delhi Cabinet’s decision to disaffiliate the college from Delhi University (DU) and merge it with Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD).
The students have been protesting against the move, which has been okayed by the Lieutenant Governor, even as DU is yet to take a decision on disaffiliating COA. An online petition was also floated against it.
Their chief concern is that once the institute is affiliated to the AUD, courses will become more expensive and fees will increase substantially. This, they say, will be discriminatory towards students belonging to the lower socio-economic strata and will exclude artists from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The agitating students have also expressed concern over the ST (Scheduled Tribe) reservation in the college once it is affiliated to the AUD, which is a state university. They have argued that Delhi does not have a state ST list which would ultimately prevent ST students across the country from applying to COA.
The protesters also pointed out that the college was already facing a fund crunch and it was not clear whether the move would resolve or exacerbate it.
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