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For Months, we the students of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar Institute of Technology, in Andaman and Nicobar Islands' capital city Port Blair, have been protesting against the college as the affiliation of our college to the Pondicherry University has been revoked.
This has put our entire careers at risk. I am one of the students of B.Tech programme here. I'm currently in my first year of Computer Science Engineering. The admission of our batch took place in 2021. We paid our admission fee and exam fee for the first semester.
When the time for the exam came, our exams were not conducted. We used to question our teachers, "Why are our exams not being conducted?" But we didn't get any answer.
We were promoted to the second semester without any exams and we were never told anything about our exam dates and registration number.
When Pondicherry University released its dates for the exams, we didn't get our registration number, and exams were conducted at all the other colleges affiliated to Pondicherry University, except ours.
Students of DBRAIT have been protesting since May this year.
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'We Were Not Aware Affiliation Was Cancelled'
We then got to know that during the last audit in 2020, the University of Pondicherry cancelled the affiliation of our college as it couldn't fulfill university's condition to run the technical institute.
We, students, were not aware of it!
"When we took admission, we weren't aware that the college doesn't have affiliation to Pondicherry University. We didn't know anything about it, and we took the admission because this is a government institute. Since this is a government institute, everyone believed it to be a good institute and there would not be any such issue. But, we had to face this problem. It's been a year and our exams have not been conducted."Sweta Barla, Student
This problem not only persists with degree students but with diploma students as well.
On 28 September, tear gas was fired on protesting students.
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"Our diploma is affiliated with MSBTE (Maharashtra State Board of Technical Education). As per the act of 1997, MSBTE cannot give affiliation to colleges outside Maharashtra. If it cannot give affiliation, then how did the college get the affiliation?," said Hritikesh, my fellow student at the college.
Our college claims to have MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Maharashtra State Board of Technical Education for the diploma degree.
"But despite having MoU, students who have completed diploma here are not being allowed to take admissions in B.Tech programmes, and diploma students who had earlier taken admissions in the college, their exams are also not being conducted, because of this, we are very worried."Hritikesh, Student
On 28 September, water cannon fired on students.
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Sanjana Maity said, "In 2020, after completing my diploma, I gave the lateral entry entrance exam and took admission in B.Tech programme. After three semesters, we got to know that we don't have affiliation with Pondicherry University and our admission is illegal. Pondicherry University wasn't aware that DBRAIT has enrolled students via lateral entry. It's been four semesters and no exams have been conducted. We are being promoted to the next semester, illegally."
Pondicherry University revoked the affiliation as the college failed to meet university's standards to run a technical institute. On 28 September, when we, students, were sitting on a protest, the state government forcibly started to remove us from the protest site. Water cannons and tear gas were fired which left many of us injured.
Several students were injured by the police action.
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'We Are Waiting For The Solution'
We have been waiting for two years for the solution and we are hoping that since it's a government institute a solution would definitely come through, but no solution has come in the last two years. As you know, the matter is being heard at the court (Kolkata High Court). The case is being heard for the last two years and it may go to the Supreme Court and this can go on for the next four to five years. After the 2019 session, if the college knew that it no longer has an affiliation, then why did they admit us?Sagar, Student
"We had a meeting at the secretariat. We were told not to boycott the exams which are going to happen in the near future. But then the court conditions apply. It clearly says that the results of our exams would depend upon the court's judgement. Why should we give the exam in such a situation?," added Barla.
The Quint reached out to Uttpal Sharma, the principal of DBRAIT, but he refused to comment on the issue.
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