Colleges in the district remained closed on Monday in the absence of instructions from the government to reopen.
Colleges were told by the office of the Regional Joint Director of Collegiate Education to await the green signal from the Directorate in Chennai. Officials at the Joint Director’s office told The Hindu that there was no word from the government yet on reopening the colleges.
The Directorate of Collegiate Education had issued ‘oral’ instructions to the institutions on March 15 to suspend classes and close down hostels in view of the State-wide student stir demanding amendments to a US-sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka in the United Nations Human Rights Council.
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However, the resolution was adopted on March 22 without any amendments. Subsequently, college managements, students and parents expected the institutions to reopen on Monday. Rumours were rife in the social media and through Short Messaging Service (SMS) on mobile phones that colleges would be reopened on Monday.
Meanwhile, 22 students of MSS Wakf Board College here observed a one-day token fast outside the college campus on Monday demanding a stronger resolution against Sri Lanka in the UNHRC. Campus Front of India, students’ wing of Popular Front of India, had organised the fast under the leadership of its Madurai district president K. Sulthan Alauddin.
Students who participated in the fast said that they were anxious to return to classes as the practical examinations were nearing.
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“Prolonged closure of the college would affect science students like me. We hope the government would postpone the examinations too in order to give time for the students to prepare,” said S. Mohammed Ezas Ali, a II B.Sc., chemistry student.