Uttar Pradesh: Scholarship woes force students to brave chilly weather in the open at BBAU, Lucknow

Lucknow— BABA SAHEB BHIMRAO AMBEDKAR UNIVERSITY is a central universitylocated in Lucknow and is one of the first universities in India named after the Father of the Constitution. The university has a provision of 50% reservation for the people coming from Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes.

As most of the students belong to marginalized communities, they are entirely dependent on the Scholarships provided by the government but the insouciant attitude of the government has meant that there is no payment of scholarships to the students, who largely belong to the Dalit community. And as the students cannot afford the fees, they have been allegedly been barred from appearing in the examination. The Mooknayakspoke to Aditya Chowdhary whose family was forced to sell tractor to submit fees despite getting admission on zero balance.

“I did not receive the scholarship for 2019-20 and also 2020-21 so I had to sell the tractor to submit the fees. I think the students should be permitted to appear for the examination even if this means withholding the mark sheets” says Aditya Chowdhary a student studying in B.Tech 7th semester.

And after their pleas went unheard, they decided to sit on a Dharna outside Ambedkar Bhawan, the university’s administrative building. The Mooknayakmet students, most of whom belong to Dalit communities and are pursuing self-finance courses like B.Tech.

Praveen Kumar, a student of B.Tech 3rd year says “ We did not receive our scholarship but the university did not take cognizance of that and we talked to Director, Registrar and informed the Vice-chancellor. But no one heard us and today when we sat on dharna the administration is saying give us the application and we will do the needful. When they did not listen two months back, what will they do now.”

While Saurav Kumar another student sitting on a dharna says “ They are saying that deposit the fees till the 25th and you will be allowed to appear for the exams in January but we won’t be able to collect 1,72,000 Rs.”

Basant Kanaujia, Research Scholar, is quite vocal on the rights of students belonging to marginalized communities as he says “The government wants to deprive the students of education. Students from other communities can afford such high fees but the Dalit students are entirely dependent on the scholarships. The government is deliberately not paying the scholarships.

Vinay Kanojia, a student associated with Ambedkar University Dalit Students Union pursuing law from the University, also targets the authorities over this.

“Injustice is being done to the students of B.Tech. Our organization AUDSU sent applications and met with the authorities but they denied giving permission to appear in the examination.”

"The students who come from our Dalit communities have sent the letter to Minister, Chief Minister and the Social Welfare Minister and urged them to allow the students whose scholarship is not submitted or whose transaction has failed to appear for the exam but they have been barred from appearing in the examination,” he adds.

However, R A Khan, Director at the Department of Information and Technology of the varsity has a slightly different story to tell “It is entirely wrong to say that the students have been barred from appearing in the examination. The students whose fees is pending for only the current semester have been permitted to appear for the exam. Even for the students whose fees is pending for many semesters have been given time to submit fees till the 25th of December and they will be allowed to appear for the semester exams separately”.

He also informed that they are verifying the claims of the students that they have not received the scholarship for more than a semester. Regardless of the claims of Khan, it is an unassailable truth that every year lakhs of students from marginalized communities are forced to drop out of the courses because they cannot afford the high cost of education.

When TheMooknayak contacted the SC/ST cell, they cited their “outsourced employees” status for their refusal to say anything on this issue.

The protesting students spent their night in the open braving the cold temperature which dropped to 5 degrees in night.

On the second day of the protest, the students were visited by Sunita Singh, Social welfare officer, who assured them that their scholarship will be disbursed but the students remained adamant and asserted that they will only call off the sit-in protest when their mark sheets are released for the previous semesters, which have been withheld by their respective departments.

When The Mooknayak contacted Sunita Singh, Social Welfare officer, she said that the department has disbursed the scholarship, although it is not sufficient and we have assured them that they will be allowed to appear for the examination and their mark sheets will also be released.

And while the students brace up for another frigid winter night at the Ambedkar Bhawan (visuals of Ambedkar Bhawan) the government and the authorities at the universities need to ensure that no one is deprived of education for the want of money.