Jamia Millia Islamia students protest demanding reopening of hostel

NEW DELHI: Students of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) on Wednesday protested outside the Vice Chancellor office demanding reopening of the hostel. The university resumed offline classes for the academic session 2022-23 for all, except first-year students, on July 18, 2022.

However, classes for first-year students resumed from August 1, 2022. “A month after resuming offline classes, hostels were not yet open for students,” they alleged.

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The students who were protesting outside the university said, “We have been waiting for 5 hours to meet the JMI registrar, but couldn’t meet. A few students who were fasting also participated in the protest. Though the registrar was present in the campus for 7 hours, he didn’t couldn’t spare time for the students.”

“(Protesting) Students were being stopped from entering or leaving the campus. We don’t know if the registrar will meet us,” the student alleged adding that Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) have opened the hostels for students whereas the “JMI administration is still sleeping”.

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Announcing the reopening of university for offline class from March 2, the JMI proctor Waseem Khan told PTI in February that hostels are being renovated and “it will take time”.

Abdul Wahid Rahmani, a fourth-semester student, said earlier that the administration could have easily readied the hostels for students but the "intention was lacking". "The hostel system in Jamia is very well organised and they had plenty of time to ready the rooms. They want to avoid the reopening as long as possible," he had told PTI.