Student body stages protest in HP - The Times of India

SHIMLA: Concerned over proliferation of private universities in the state, the Students Federation of India (SFI) had given a call to gherao the state secretariat on Thursday. As many as 1,000 students of Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) as well as RKMV, Kotshera, Sanjauli colleges and evening college participated in the gherao protest.

State committee president of SFI, Vikram Singh, said, "Instead of curbing proliferation of private universities, the state government is acting as their spokesperson. The state government has facilitated ''land use change'' after 25 years for such private universities and permission has been granted to open as many as 24 private universities in the state.''

Such private universities are being propagated on the pretext of providing quality education in the state. If the government is so concerned about quality of education, it should increase the budget for colleges as around 25% of colleges do not possess their own buildings and 35% posts of teachers are lying vacant in state colleges, Singh said.

The state committee of SFI has demanded that in order to prevent commercialization in these private universities, which take large amounts from students as fees, these should have a provision for 35% reservation for students from disadvantaged sections and should provide free education, he said.

"Besides, the state government is commercializing education in HPU as well as in different colleges by increasing fee structures and by introducing self-financing courses. We would like to caution the state government that if attempts at privatization and commercialization of education are not curbed, SFI will intensify its agitation in the state,'' he added.