India Education

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Decision pending with SC but panic engulfs students

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Anupma Khanna/Abhinav Ranga | Dehradun/Ambala



Panic, frustration and the fear of an uncertain future loomed over thousands of students in Uttarakhand, consequent to Centre’s submission to the Supreme Court signaling de-recognition of three deemed universities in Uttarakhand. These include Graphic Era, HIHT University in Dehradun and Haridwar’s old Gurukul Kangri University. The story is similar in neighbouring Haryana, from where three other universities figure in the list of 44 submitted by the Government to the Supreme Court.



While many slammed the Government questioning the granting of approval for ‘deemed university’ status to these in the first place, others expressed vociferous resentment against the institutes’ management for having jeopardised their lives. A plethora of doubts and questions troubled their minds. “I fear if we shall be able to practice or pursue further studies after spending all the money and time,” stated Kapil of HIHT University in Dehradun.



“We are shocked over the decision, and hope the Government does reconsider the decision. We do not know how the Government first gives such status to an academic institution, and later realises otherwise,” said Ashish Hooda and Raghav Kakkar of Ambala’s Maharishi Markendeshwar University. Similar is the plight of the students of Lingaya University and Manav Rachna International University, both in Faridabad, which are going to be divested of the status of deemed university.



Panic lay reflected in the reactions of many other students that the paper interacted with. “The HRD Ministry has very conveniently said that the concept of deemed university will be abolished in India but what happens to us? Caught in the middle of nowhere, what are we expected to do! We took the exams conducted by our college but if the affiliation regresses to Uttarakhand Technical University, which degree will we get?” wondered Manali, an engineering student at Graphic Era, Dehradun.