Hyderabad: Amidst the pandemic, some English and Foreign Language University (EFLU) students staged a protest demanding to reopen the college hostels on February 25.
Students are demanding to reopen college hostels on grounds of inhospitable home situations, depreciating mental health, and lack of access to adequate resources. This is the second time the students have decided to protest about the same issue within the same month.
According to a study conducted by the students involving 845 students, it was discovered that 522 students want the college to reopen the hostels on an urgent basis. 62.1% feel that lack of access to libraries is affecting their research, 43.9% lack access to adequate technology, 20.9% are facing abusive situations including physical violence at home, and 13.6% are facing mental health issues due to discriminatory practices followed by people in the neighbourhood.
Many students at this college are not residents of Telangana and some also have to work part-time. Due to unfavourable situations at home, some of them have been staying at lodges waiting for the hostels to reopen. “One zoom call consumes at least one 1GB of internet and this is a concern for many students,” said a student who did not wish to be named. Another final year student is concerned about not having the required access to resources to complete his dissertation.
The first protest was held on February 12th and the college authorities requested them to submit the detailed letter. The protesting students told NewsKarnataka that they submitted On February 18, but the management refused to meet the concerned students. On the same day, college authorities released a circular stating that in-person classes will not be resumed. Students claim that this was never a part of their request.
We were unable to contact the college management to comment on this issue.
