The Safety Net

LUCKNOW: After knocking the doors of university and government officials, five engineering students of different colleges affiliated to APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University have threatened self-immolation outside the Raj Bhawan on Friday to protest against corruption. They alleged that university officials fail more than 90% students every year and then force them to take special carry over exam for which each student has to pay Rs 750 per subject.
Students, belonging to Agra, Meerut, Mathura, Lucknow, Noida and other cities had on December 1 submitted a memorandum to the governor (a copy of which is with TOI) stating that the university officials have been giving false assurances to them and no concrete action has been taken by authorities on their complaints.
"In every semester, more than 90% students are failed, after which university extorts money from us in the name of carry-over exam and even in the carry-over, a large number of students are failed,'' said a student, claiming they have even written to the PMO, and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, but no reply has come from there.
The students thanked the social media which brought them together to fight against a common cause. "It started with a normal conversation among a few students when it struck us that we should highlight the corrupt practices at a bigger level. We formed many pages and Whatsapp group and decided to take the extreme step,'' said another student.
pages like 'UPTU Union', 'UPTU Jaankari' and 'UPTU/AKTU', 'Don't play with students' career and future' have received support from student community, present and past.
University spokesperson Ashish Mishra rubbished the allegations and said, ``University has 3.5 lakh students and the number of students protesting are only handful. University is not meant to fail students. But its not the students who will decide their marks. This is the jurisdiction of the teachers.''