Memorandum given against Fee Hike in PU

A delegation of Students for Society (SFS) submitted a memorandum against 5% tuition fee hike for the upcoming session of 2015-16. SFS has also initiated a signature campaign against the recent fee hike. Till now more than 500 students have supported this campaign by signing.

SFS President Arishdeep Singh said, “We strongly condemn the proposal to hike fee by the fee committee. Since last few years there has been a tremendous hike in various fees. In this session also already course fees as well as hostel fees have been increased. Due to this continuing trend of fee hike, education is getting out of reach of people. As already fee of university although being a govt. institute, is sky-high, the proposed hike is not justified at all”.

Issued by

Arishdeep Singh

Protest Against the Lathicharge on the students of Punjabi University and Banaras Hindu University

LONG LIVE STUDENTS’ UNITY!!

RISE AGAINST PRIVATIZATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION OF EDUCATION!!

BAN THE ENTRY OF POLICE IN EDUCATIONAL CAMPUSES!!

STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH STUDENTS STRUGGLING FOR THEIR GENUINE DEMANDS!!

Students for Society (SFS) today protested against the yesterdays’ lathi-charge on Punjabi University and Banaras Hindu University students. Highlighting the repression that the students have faced in the recent past while struggling against the anti-student policies and for their democratic rights, student leaders of Naujawan Bharat Sabha and Ambedkar Students’ Association also addressed & condemned the incidents. The protest in Punjabi University started yesterday with students raising their demands like the problems of stipends and hostels for the research scholars, timing of the girls’ hostels. The issue of the implementation of the decision of rollback of fee hike was also in the frame. It is ample clear that the intervention of police in the issue was unwarranted. The students were brutally beaten up and tear gas was used. Heightening the repression in BHU, the police even fired upon the protesting students. The main demand in BHU was for a democratic student representation which instead of discussing issue called the police into action. It has been further learnt that in Punjabi University criminal cases have been registered against 22 students and that 2 students have been detained in BHU.

Most worrisome is the manner in which the police intervention has increased in the educational institutes all over the country, reducing the autonomy of universities to mere paper. Talking of the great participation in all progressive movements of the country SFS General Secretary Damanpreet Singh said “The University authorities had always used such measures to suppress the student dissent, as we have witnessed in Panjab University, Punjabi University (Patiala), Banaras Hindu University (Varanasi), Himachal Pradesh University (Shimla), Jadavpur University (Kolkata) and others. The phenomenon is in its continuity. But the root cause of the phenomenon lies in the Neoliberal policies that are bring pursued by the government, resulting in privatisation and commercialisation of education. So, the students have to come forward against anti-people policies and resist the every action aimed at curbing the democratic space and increasing intervention of police in the university campuses, and have to unite to build a healthy and democratic atmosphere.” He said that at one hand it is propagated that there is lack of funds for public education whereas on the other hand the same govt. goes on to give huge subsidies to corporates. The students demanded that the entry of police in educational campuses be banned and they raised the slogans of students’ unity.

Links: Lathicharge video in Punjabi University

Issued by:

Damanpreet Singh

General Secretary SFS

9464142275

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A GIRL IN PANJAB UNIVERSITY

We are the students of a ‘top-ranked’ university of our country which is supposed to teach the virtues of equality of all beings irrespective of caste, gender, colour and creed. But does it uphold the virtues that it claims to preach? Does it provide students an equal platform for education and growth? Where do the girl students stand in this scenario?

One cannot deny the prevalence of gender discrimination in the campus, which expresses itself sometimes overtly, many times covertly. We can count endless forms of discrimination which the girls of Panjab University face every day. The cases of eve-teasing or harassment in the campus are rampant. The unending queue of luxury cars in front of the hostel lanes and even around the campus following you, followed by the looks you are given that are staring right through your clothes is not uncommon. Further, even hostel rules for the boys’ and girls’ hostels are not common. It is ironic that there is time limit to the movement of girls even inside the hostel premises! In the name of security, the freedom of girl residents is further curtailed as it is not ‘safe’ for them to move around the campus; which again poses serious questions at the very claim of the university to grow students into conscious and rational beings. Further, hostel residents are exploited with the heap of fines that they are asked to pay over insignificant matters. At night the reading room of library is open for studying, but not for girls! And the solution which authorities offer is to build a reading room inside the girls’ hostels, further segregating the girls from society. Although the girls comprise of 70% of the total students, but their participation in the campus activities is minimal. Even their participation in the Students’ elections, which supposed to be a democratic platform for students to express their voice, is reduced just to add a glamour quotient to the election campaigns.

DISCUSSION on "ROLE OF ART IN BUILDING A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY"- In light of Vishal Bhardwaj's movie "HAIDER"

TIME : 4 pm           DATE: 11th November (Tuesday)

VENUE: Lawn adjacent to AC JOSHI Library, PU.

DISCUSSION on "THE SCOPE OF CULTURAL & RELIGIOUS MINORITIES AND THE POLITICS OF 'HINDU RASHTRA' & 'INTEGRAL INDIA'- IN CONTEXT OF 1984"

 

TIME : 3:30 pm           DATE: 5th November (Wednesday)

VENUE: Lawn adjacent to the Student Centre, PU.