BENGALURU: Maharani’s Arts and Commerce College for Women, a government-run institution in Bengaluru, has seen a 50 per cent dip in admissions this year. Students and faculty members blame the series of protests staged by two student groups in March this year for this.
As per data available from the college, for the academic year 2015-16, 418 students were admitted to the arts stream. This year, the number is a mere 225. The situation in the commerce stream is no different. In 2015-16, 601 students got admission while this year, it dropped to 468. The BBM course was the worse hit with just 78 students this year. Last year, the course had 258 students.
“It was so shameful that we had to take police support to stop students from staging a protest. The protests were covered by media and people across the state saw it. This is one of the major reason for fewer admissions this year,” said a senior faculty of the college.
“Not all students of the college were involved in the protests but it tarnished the image of the college and parents now fear to admit their children to our college,” said another faculty member.
Meanwhile, college authorities are now working towards increasing admissions by next academic year. “We will also update the Department of Collegiate Education about the dip in admission,” explained an official of the college.
The protests
Five months ago, the Department of Collegiate Education transferred two professors following a complaint by the college principal. A set of students staged a protest demanding that the professors be brought back. A few days later, the department transferred the then principal from the college and this lead to tensions between two groups of students, followed. Classes were disrupted as protests lasted for over two weeks in March.