The district unit of the Karnataka Vidyarthi Parishath has urged the State government to withdraw its circular directing government degree colleges to start functioning at 8 a.m.
Addressing presspersons here on Friday, Prithivaraj Shetty, convener of the district unit of the parishath, said that the State government had sent a circular on July 6 directing all government degree colleges to start functioning from 8 a.m. But while issuing the circular, the government had not taken the problems of students living in different regions into consideration.
A large number of poor students from rural areas got admitted to the government degree colleges. Some of these students had to come from deep forests in the naxalite-affected areas or from other remote areas.
The students in government degree colleges in Hebri, Karkala, Barkur, Koteshwar, Kota, Byndoor and Shankarnarayana came from remotely hamlets located in the forests.
These students had to leave their houses at 6 a.m. and walk for 1.5 km to 2 km to reach the bus stand. “But the problem is even when they woke up early and reached the bus stops, buses did not ply so early at 6.30 a.m. They started operating only after 7 a.m. Then, how can the students reach the colleges by 8 a.m.?” he said.
The private bus service in rural areas was far fewer when compared to urban areas. Some of the low-floor government buses had also stopped functioning after the recent order of the High Court of Karnataka. This caused immense hardship to the students.
It was not just the men students but even women students had to get up early in the morning and walk down to the bus stop. The time was not appropriate from the security viewpoint of women students. “The women students are more affected by the new rule than the men students,” he said.
Taking into consideration the problem of students living in interior rural areas and naxalite-affected areas in the coastal districts, the government should direct the colleges in these districts to function from 9 a.m. instead of 8 a.m.
The parishath had already submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner. They would also meet elected representatives and bring the matter to their notice. “If the government does not listen to our plea, we will be left with no alternative but to launch an agitation,” Mr. Shetty said.
Shreesha, Sanat Poojary, Pratesh Shetty, Ajith B., Rakesh, leaders of the parishath, were present.
