Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, April 16: A mob of 200 engineering students, furious at the back-to-back scheduling of back paper and current semester exams, gathered at the regional office of the Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) in Gandamunda Thursday and ransacked the premises.
Police personnel who rushed to the spot were outnumbered by the students. In a clash that ensued, a policeman suffered head injuries while a student was hurt in the lathicharge.
Shattered glass panes and broken furniture were strewn around the premises.
A steady stream of students started gathering at the office premises Thursday afternoon soon after the exam schedule was announced. However, the gathering soon began turning violent as the number of protesters swelled. The mob then broke into the premises and began vandalising the office. The examination director, Mayadhar Satpathy, was not present when students had to come to lodge their complaint.
“We were heavily outnumbered by the students. It happened all of a sudden,” said Airfield inspector in-charge Rashmi Ranjan Sahoo. “There was only one officer at the police station. I wasn’t there either. The ACP had to take the lead and reach the spot,” Sahoo said.
The ACP suffered a mild injury to his head when a brick thrown by a student hit him. The inspector, however, said nobody was taken into custody.
“One student was hit in the head and his condition is critical while 10 were brutally beaten up,” said Parthasarathy Mohapatra, president of All Orissa BPUT Student Association.
Students speak up
“The whole exam schedule is absurd,” said a student. “The schedule has been announced just two weeks in advance, and as an insult to injury, both back papers and even semester papers will be held back-to-back, with not a day’s gap in between. This is preposterous,” said Mohapatra.
The examinations commence April 29 and continue till May 11, and the schedule for back papers was released Wednesday, students said.
“The point of having a system of back papers is to ensure students clear the subjects with good marks. Now I don’t see how that is possible as the dates have been announced at such short notice,” said Diptiranjan Pal, another student.
“Even the dates for the even semester exams were announced some two weeks back. We thought exams for back papers would be held in last week of May or so. This is a bolt from the blue. How on earth can we prepare?” wondered a student, preferring to remain unnamed.
“BPUT is a text-book example of bullish, non-transparent, red-taped government organisation working in the field of education. The government says BPUT will do this, do that… but nothing happens. I’m losing faith in this government,” said another vexed student on social media in an anonymous post.