The protest at Army Institute of Law, Mohali, against arbitrary rules in college may have ended on October 21 but the students say that the movement has just begun.
On October 16, students went on an indefinite strike against the inefficient administration, “deteriorating quality of teaching staff”, lack of a student body, instances of sexism, archaic code of conduct, unhygienic mess food and a few other issues.
While the administration has fulfilled some of the demands, students say that a lot still needs to be done.
According to them, the administration has democratically nominated an interim student with five representatives from each batch. The code of conduct, which students have called “regressive”, has been under review and the college has made provisions for students to give feedback to the existing faculty as well as the quality of the mess food. The administration has also forwarded the formal complaint against the allegedly “abusive” girls hostel’s warden to the chairman, as per the order issued on October 22.
However, students say that the fight against the administration shall continue.
The day after the protest ended, students found insects in their lunch. Immediately after, they filed a complaint against the mess contractor, compelling the administration to take a quick action. “A fine worth Rs 1,000 was imposed on the mess contractor upon receipt of a complaint against him on the same day,” said a student.
Disciplinary action against mess contractor for serving food infested with insects. Image by special arrangement.
Besides, students are keeping an eye on the revocation of “draconian provisions of the code [of conduct]”, the ongoing inquiry against the warden, the constitution of student body and the overall redressal mechanism.
“The road ahead shall be marked with the underlying spirit of the protest which is kept alive even after the culmination of strike. Such culmination in no way indicates the submission of our spirit to a state of imposed fear by the authorities, but an act of marching towards a better future. The strike has ended only to fuel the ongoing protest and the voice of this protest shall echo an everlasting movement,” said the student community in a joint statement.
You can read the full statement here:
Joint statement by students at Army Institute of Law, Mohali. by The Wire on Scribd
Featured image by special arrangement