NIT outstation students skip exams, return home

NIT Srinagar was quiet on Monday as examinations for various classes began amid tight security against a backdrop of recent disturbances on the campus.

However, a majority of outstation students skipped the minor exams and began returning home. This came after the Union human resources development ministry conceded their demand that they would be given an opportunity to write these exams later.

Apart from all local students, only a few dozen outstation students, mainly final-semester students, sat for the exams, the officials said.

They said these final-year students were very keen to write their examination as “most of them have already got placement offers in good companies and don’t want to let this occasion go.”

Registrar Fayaz Ahmed Mir said that about 1,600 outstation students skipped the exams, whereas those who chose to appear in these constitute only one per cent of the total number of non-local students enrolled at the institute.

About 1,200 outstation students have left the campus for home over past two days and the others are preparing to leave in the next couple of days. The Jammu and Kashmir government has offered to facilitate their travel. “About 400 students left on Sunday and 700-800 others on Monday. The state government facilitated their air or bus travel as per their convenience,” said education minister Syed Naeem Akhter.

Sources said that many outstation students had, even after skipping exams, desired to stay put but the authorities did not agree, suspecting this could be a “mischief on part of trouble-makers”. “There was apprehension that their presence on the campus could be exploited by the vested interests to serve their own agenda. We also know some of the students have been swayed by outside forces which are hell-bent on keeping the pot boiling,” said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The outstation students who did not sit for exams blamed it on the tensions set off by recent disturbances.

The campus had on April 1 witnessed clashes after Kashmiri students celebrated India’s defeat at the hands of West Indies in ICC Twenty-20 semi final by chanting pro-Pakistan slogans and lightening fireworks. Exasperated by it, the outstation students who outnumber the locals allegedly attacked them, leading to clashes and closure of the campus for students for four days.

On April 5 evening, the outstation students attempted to leave the campus but were confronted by local police which used force, leaving many students injured. The incident evoked outrage across the country and many people took to social networking sites to denounce police action although video footage released by police shows students damaging the institute property and attacking policemen. The Centre rushed a two-member team of HRDM to hold talks with outstation students and asses the overall situation on the campus. Also, CRPF and SSB personnel in strength were deployed on the campus.

The authorities have accepted the protesting students’ demands of improving infrastructure on the campus including providing them with better amenities including good washrooms, a recreational hall, un-interrupted power supply and communication facilities such as Wi-Fi Internet access. They have also been assured steps would be initiated to improve academic atmosphere on the campus.