Students of Andhra University’s Department of Systems Design have decided to give a break to their 16-day-old agitation and relay hunger strike after the AU authorities decided to send a delegation consisting of Dean (academic affairs) G. Gnanamani and students’ representatives to Hyderabad and later to Delhi on the students’ demands of getting AICTE recognition to their courses, eligibility for NET, GATE and PGECET, and employment opportunity.
Before the decision was taken late in the afternoon, students of the department enforced ‘AU bandh’ and held a demonstration in front of the Central Administrative Office building and also prevailed over the employees to come out of the building.
When they were asking students of other courses to boycott classes, there was an argument between them and the police who tried to stop them.
The students lamented that the police were trying to stop their non-violent agitation and were engaged in a heated argument with the police. A Sub-Inspector allegedly behaved in a high-handed manner with a senior professor of the science college when the latter objected to the former entering the classroom without his permission.
Late in the afternoon the students told Registrar K. Samrajyalakshmi that mere assurances from the administration would not make them to call off the agitation and wanted a written assurance.
It was later decided that a student each from M.Sc. (tech) courses in three subjects along with Prof. Gnanamani would go to Hyderabad and hold meetings with the APSCHE and Collegiate Education officials. Then the delegation would meet the UGC and AICTE officials in New Delhi.
