Students from Odisha at the state-run Kendriya Hindi Sansthan (KHS) in Agra have been protesting against the poor hostel and mess facilities and have demanded assurance of jobs after the completion of their course.
The students, who have been protesting from Wednesday, claimed that the authorities at the institute have not responded to their demands and allegedly forced them to sit out in the rain yesterday.
KHS is run by Kendriya Hindi Shikshan Mandal under the HRD Ministry.
KHS Director Nand Kishore Pandey said the 70 protesting students from Odisha had enrolled for ‘Praveen’ course for teaching Hindi.
“They want an assurance that they would get jobs after completing the course. We can only provide quality education and whether they get jobs or not is for the Odisha government to decide,” Pandey said.
Registrar Chandra Kant Tripathi said, “A students’ cooperative runs the mess and the day to day decisions are taken by the committee. The institute gives adequate support and medical facilities are also provided on a daily basis.”
On their demand for job assurance, Tripathi said, “We have explained to them that the course is recognised by NCTE, the national regulatory body.”
“For jobs, state governments have their own parameters and it is up to the Odisha government to consider their demand for jobs. We can only help by way of providing good teaching,” he said.
Sourced from PTI, Featured image courtesy: cityseeker.com