200 students jostle for space in one classroom at DU’s open school

STUDENTS SAY AT LEAST 200 OF THEM ARE MADE TO SIT IN ONE ROOM DUE TO LACK OF SPACE

NEW DELHI: Students of Delhi University’s School of Open Learning (SOL) are being forced to sit on floors and outside classrooms at their study centres due to overcrowding and lack of classrooms.

Students complained that there are too many students in one classroom due to which many of them have to sit on floors and even outside classrooms. Students said that at least 200 students are made to sit in one classroom due to lack of space.

“At least 200 students have to sit in one classroom but obviously these many people cannot be accommodated in one classroom. Many of us sit on the floor and rest of us go outside and listen to the lecture from the window. There are not enough classrooms. How can we study in such circumstances,” said Shankar, a first-year student enrolled with SOL.

SOL conducts weekend classes for its students at various study centres. SOL students recently held a protest demanding more classrooms and better amenities for them. “We don’t have enough classrooms at study centres. The SOL library is in a shambles. We have complained to the authorities but nothing seems to be moving,” said another student, who did not wish to be named.

However, SOL officials denied the allegations and maintained that there is enough space in study centres for students. They said that SOL has requested the university to increase number of classrooms allotted to us so that more students can be accommodated.

“This is not true. We have enough space to accommodate students. Earlier we had 375 classrooms but now we have 500. Similarly we have increased the number of teachers from 1,000 to 1,500. We have also written to the UGC and the DU to give us more classrooms in colleges to conduct our classes because every year we get more students than previous year,” said CS Dubey, director SOL.