Bengaluru: Hours after the University Grants Commission (UGC) again granted recognition to the Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), thousands of students who completed their courses during 2013-16 have decided to continue their protest till all their problems are resolved.
As many as 95,000 of these students said that despite the decision, their lives continue to be in jeopardy. The UGC had withdrawn the affiliation to the university from 2012-13 through a notice dated June 15, 2015, pointing to a violation of jurisdiction and guidelines laid out by the UGC.
After the UGC granted the recognition, many students and representative organisations took to social media to express their grievance. Replying to Higher Education Minister G.T. Devegowda’s tweet thanking UGC and HRD minister, Chaitra, a user, tweeted, “What about the future of students who already graduated? How can you incorporate their interests?”
United KSOU Students (UKS) said that UGC committed a ‘grave mistake’ by giving recognition to courses from the next academic year, while ignoring old students who had invested their time and money.
Mr Devegowda later clarified that no student will be ignored. “The issue will be presented again to the Governor next week when I meet him to explain the issue in person,” he told Deccan Chronicle. A higher education department official said that some issues are still pending before the Governor.
KSOU Vice-Chancellor D. Shivalingaiah said that the varsity will ensure a pro-student decision. “We have sent more than ten requests to UGC with evidence. With the positive response from the UGC to begin 17 courses from this year, we hope that they would address student grievances too,” he said. The varsity had requested the UGC to allow them to begin 15 more courses (including MBA and B.Ed) for which an appeal will be filed shortly, he said.
