College of Art students stage protest near Kejriwal's residence

NEW DELHI: A section of students from the College of Art on Saturday staged a protest near chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence over the institute's merger with the Delhi government-run Ambedkar University.

The Delhi University was informed that the Office of the Lieutenant Governor has in-principle approved the merger of the College of Art (COA), subject to its de-affiliation from the university. The Delhi University has not yet approved the de-affiliation. The students held placards that read "Reject AUD, Reclaim DU", "We Reject CoA merger with AUD".

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They also submitted a memorandum to the office of the chief minister, demanding that the merger be stopped. The Students' Federation of India supported the protest. The JNU unit of the National Students' Union of India too expressed solidarity with the protesting students.

"We condemn the Delhi Cabinet's decision to disaffiliate the college from University of Delhi (DU) and merge it with Dr B R Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD) and acknowledge that this decision is in continuation with the attempt to make education more expensive and increase the course fees considerably," they said.

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Noting that the decision will discriminate against students from socio-economically marginalised sections of the society and eventually exclude artists from underprivileged backgrounds, the protesters stressed that it will also impact women's right to education.