New Delhi, May 20 (IANS) Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS) activists, along with students of Delhi University’s School of Open Learning (SOL), on Tuesday held a protest against the authorities for forcing SOL students to write their exams in an unsafe basement parking, endangering their lives.

Slamming the university’s apathy, the protesters demanded a dignified academic atmosphere and alleged that SOL students were victims of “educational apartheid”, as even the basic exam facilities were being denied to them.

Bhim Kumar, Member, Delhi State Committee, KYS, said in a statement, “The organisation demands the filing of an FIR against the DU and SOL officials responsible for putting the lives of SOL students in danger.”

“This is discrimination and educational apartheid in its worst form, as DU provides classrooms for the students at regular colleges to write their exams. Clearly, the careers and even lives of SOL students are dispensable for DU and SOL administrations,” he said.

He also shared videos of the examination centre in the basement parking, in which students can be seen sitting behind green shades, while construction work is going on. Heaps of construction waste, including dangerous materials such as metal pipes, toxic paint, stone slabs and construction ladders, can be seen littered across the basement.

The KYS leader demanded immediate resolution of all issues related to internal assessment and results.

“The KYS warns of a massive movement if all these issues are not resolved immediately. The organisation will intensify its movement against DU and SOL’s educational apartheid and criminal disregard for SOL students’ lives,” said Bhim Kumar.

He alleged that the SOL and the DU administration are known to deny the bare minimum facilities to the SOL students.

Dignified settings are what any public-funded educational institution is bound to provide to its students for exams, he said.

Even earlier, in 2024, the students of SOL B. Com 1st semester were forced to write their exams in bone-chilling winters in makeshift tents at Motilal Nehru College and Aurobindo College, he stated.

–IANS

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