Students withdraw 120-hour sit-in at Presidency University after assurance to address demands

KOLKATA: Agitating students of Presidency University in Kolkata have withdrawn their 120-hour sit-in after the institute's authorities assured them of addressing their demands, including the conduct of student union polls and making the placement cell more active.

Around 50 students, including members of CPI(M)'s student wing SFI, staged the dharna on the campus for 120 hours till 10 pm on Monday. Following discussions with university authorities, including the officiating vice chancellor and registrar and deans, the sit-in was withdrawn on Monday night.

Student Federation of India's Presidency University unit's spokesperson Bitan Islam said on Tuesday that apart from expediting the process for holding student union polls at the earliest and making the placement cell more active, the authorities also agreed to ensure that every fifth semester student will be provided internship at a suitable organisation or firm under the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 guidelines.

"The heads of every department will attend a meeting where the internship issue will be discussed for active implementation," Islam said. He said the issue of funds crunch faced by the university was raised and the administration called for 'Giving to Presidency' initiative, appealing to alumni and well-wishers for donations.

"Additionally, the authorities will formally request the state government to release pending allocations and explore funding opportunities through CSR (corporate social responsibility) channels," the SFI leader said. "We had staged the dharna for 120 hours to safeguard the rights of every student on the campus. We have withdrawn the sit-in but our agitation will continue till the demands are met," he added.

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Presidency University's promises

Expressing happiness over the meeting, Presidency University Registrar Debajyoti Konar told PTI that while the Higher Education Department can take the final call about holding students union polls, the authorities reiterated their stand of facilitating the conduct of elections whenever the nod comes from the state government.

He said other issues related to the placement cell and internship were also being actively monitored by the departments concerned but maybe due to some reasons, the students got the impression that the cell was not active.

Dean of Students Affairs, Arun Maity said that almost all the HoDs have finalised the process of two month-internship and departments that have not completed the process to date will do so by March. "We had a cordial meeting with students' representatives and HoDs on the internship issue during the day," he added.