BENGALURU: Students of University of Agriculture Sciences have boycotted the first year UG examinations that started from Monday. The students said they won’t appear for the exams until Karnataka State Agriculture Universities Act is amended.
According to students, private universities that offer agriculture courses have not followed the state rules, nor the Indian Council for Agriculture Research rules. “These colleges and universities are admitting students without considering the scores of CET or ICAR. This is affecting the quality of the course,” a protesting student said.
The students have been protesting for two weeks. They want the state government to close down these private colleges and universities offering agriculture courses. On June 19, students took out a protest from Mysore Bank Circle to Town Hall, where they met Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and submitted a memorandum. As there was no action from the government even after a week, they decided to boycott the exam. The university authorities, who have failed to convince the students, were forced to lock the examination hall.
Students also alleged that one of the private universities in Doddaballapura has an intake of 1,500 students, which is the intake of three years at UAS. “This intake of a private varsity is more than the annual intake of top five agriculture varsities in the state,” a student said. The protesting students said that the CM had assured of amending the Karnataka State Agriculture Universities Act in this regard and also directed the agriculture minister to constitute a committee. So far, no such development has taken place at the government level.