Students' protest against staff shortage enters 102nd day

Times of India: Coimbatore: Friday, 19 December 2014.

The students of CBM College of Arts and Science in Kovaipudur entered their 102nd day of protest against the college management on Wednesday. The students, who were protesting against faculty shortage, have leveled fresh allegations against the management.

"The college has 41 acres of land in total. There is a government-aided section and a self-financing section. The self-financing section is an evening college, but it functions during the day," said Janakiraman G, a first year MA economics student. He also alleged that the management was collecting 9,800 per semester as fees from government-aided college students instead of the 1,800 per semester. There are around 590 students in the government-aided college and 350 in the self-financing evening college. Most students have been protesting since September. TOI had reported the student sit-in protest in September. When no action was taken following the protest, around 200 students submitted a petition to district collector Archana Patnaik. She had promised action immediately. TOI had reported that, too.

The students then began protesting against the shortage of faculty. A second year MSc student said there are only 32 teachers in the college when the requirement is 66. "There is no proper sanitation facility in the college. We have hence boycotted classes since September and no semester exams were organized for us," he added. The semester exam organized by Bharathiar University began during the second week of November and ended in early December.

The students have also alleged that the college did not organize routine functions or events. Routine functions like college day, sports day, graduation day and other celebrations have not been organized. In fact, graduation day has not been organized since 2007, said one faculty member.

Students had filed an RTI with the directorate of collegiate education seeking details about the functioning of the college. Through the RTI, they found that the self-financing college has been given approval to function as an evening college only. But, the college has been functioning during the day.

A senior administrative authority of the college said, "All allegations except excess fee collection are true. The officials from the higher education department have visited the college and reports have been submitted to the minister."