Telangana: Colleges remain closed over student suicides

Hyderabad: A number of colleges remained closed on Monday over students suicides after the declaration of Telangana state intermediate board results recently.

Student bodies called for a bandh as they demanded all students be given pass marks and officials who conducted the exam in haste should be sacked. The bandh was called by the National Students Union of India, (NSUI). Other student bodies to support the bandh included Save Education Committee, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the Students Federation of India (SFI), etc.

Venkat Balamoor the state president of NSUI raised questions on the conduct of exams asking, “Exams were conducted in haste and amid a lot of confusion. How does it make sense to conduct exams for first-year students when they are in the second year and that too without conducting regular classes.” reported the Times of India. Protesters demanded that students from 2,000 intermediate colleges should be given pass marks, and they be allowed to write the improvement exams.

The ABVP, which has also called for a bandh on Tuesday burnt effigies at the Osmania University Arts College, Alwal, among other places on Monday. They put forth demands for the sacking of intermediate board secretary ,and free re-evaluation of papers. The student body demanded the sacking of the education minister for not conducting online classes, and not having a plan to conduct the exams. A few students were taken into custody over the protests.