Visva-Bharati students hold protest for reopening hostels, force suspension of classes

Kolkata: A section of students of Visva-Bharati University Monday barged into the registrar's office and launched a sit-in demanding the immediate reopening of hostels, forcing the suspension of all classes. They also demanded that the offline secondary level board exam conducted by Visva-Bharati for Class 10 students of Patha Bhavan and other few affiliated secondary schools in Sriniketan-Bolpur area be deferred by at least one month from the tentative date of February-March.

About 200 students barged into the office of Registrar Asish Agarwal chanting 'Halla Bol' even as security personnel tried to prevent them from entering. The protestors forced offline classes being held at Pathabhavan, Visva-Bharati's primary and secondary education institution and various undergraduate and post graduate streams of different departments to stop.

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They urged pupils to go out and abstain from entering the classrooms for three days if the hostels are not reopened by that time. SFI leader and Visva-Bharati post graduate student, Somnath Sow said the institute's authorities are turning a blind eye to the plight of hostel boarders, especially those from the first year who have to shell out large amounts of money to put up in private lodges, guest houses or opt for paying guest accommodations.

"We demand immediate reopening of hostels," Sow said and added that many students who were not associated with SFI had joined the protest. Vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty and the registrar could not be contacted.

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A Visva-Bharati official said a section of the students instigated trouble and termed it as "unfortunate". "The students disrupted normal functioning of the university. Though they had earlier made the same demands, they are now disrupting campus activities. The hostels will be opened in due course of time," the official said. Visva-Bharati will not apply force against the agitating students, he added.