Girls find hostel in Pondicherry Central University inadequate

Puducherry: Students protested as the Pondicherry Central University failed to provide hostel accommodation to girls who joined the university in the academic year 2017-18. Many girls students were forced to cancel their admission, alleged  students.  The university has 14 hostels for boys and 7 for girls in which only one hostel is allotted for first year students.

According to a course-wise hostel vacancy list published in the university website for first year students, girl students were allotted a maximum of seven rooms whereas boys were allotted a maximum of 35 hostel rooms. Though admissions continued for the 6th day on Tuesday, hostel rooms were almost filled on the first day of admission itself, leaving the students and parents in despair.

“The registrar asks us to find accommodation outside the campus. But what about safety? How can we leave our child in a place which is completely new?” asks a parent who came to Puducherry all their way from Kolkata for admission.

Apart from enrolling in the dormitories, students were also asked to sign an undertaking after a meeting with the registrar which stated that they were well aware of the situation, would not demand anything else and would not create any problem after getting accommodation in the dormitory. “They could have mentioned it in the prospectus that they don’t have hostel facilities; we would not have come here. Now I have no other way but cancelling admission,” said a student who had come from Telangana.

Second year students organised a protest in front of the vice chancellor’s chamber on Tuesday,  demanding more facilities for girl students.

Though the former VC made plans for two big hostels and laid foundation stones, she stopped the funds and diverted it to something else. Now the present vice chancellor is not even ready to give an assurance about when work of the new hostel would be finished, alleged the students.

“We are expecting the works to get finished in another 6 months and till then the students have to stay outside because staying in the dormitory is difficult,” said a senior staff member of the university.