While an acute shortage of teachers impacts Karnataka government colleges, there are several other issues that are affecting students since the easing of the lockdown. While colleges have started functioning for over three months, there has been no talk about reopening hostels or giving scholarships to deserving students, especially for marginalised and out-of-station students.
“We came here when we were called for offline classes, but now there is no indication of us getting our scholarship. Our condition is such that we don’t have hostels to stay in and we don’t have the scholarship amount to try to stay elsewhere,” said Suman Gowda HR, a student of SKSJTI College in Bengaluru.
Hostels continue to be shut even as the institutions have reopened. “I'm originally from Raichur and I have come here (Bengaluru) to study. When I went to our hostel, the warden said that he can’t open the hostel just for me. However, even when 15 of us showed up and asked, he told us to make arrangements elsewhere as he doesn’t have orders from the government. My parents are farmers and I definitely cannot afford a huge rent. On top of this, if we try to get our scholarship that website doesn’t open. If this continues, how can students like me study at all?” said Ramesh, a Class 10 student who used to stay at the Government SC/ST Boys hostel in Austin Town.
Another issue that affects rural students is the lack of proper bus facility. Post-lockdown, several buses that used to cater to remote villages have not resumed operations despite the reopening of schools and colleges, forcing students to use other means of transport. This lays a burden on those students who have already been hit hard due to the lack of income during the lockdown.
“Before the lockdown, there used to be a lot more buses that came to our village but now there is one in the morning and one in the night. Even if we catch the morning bus, we always miss a class. Now internals are going on for us, by the time we reach college we are late for internal tests,” said Shivshankar, a B Ed student from Ballari.
AIDSO, which held a state-wide protest on these issues on Friday, in a statement, said, “After 8 months of online classes now students are coming for offline classes and now, they are suddenly faced with a situation where there is no scholarship. Students were to pay for bus passes and hostels with this but now are left clueless about where to get the money from. On the other hand, before opening schools and colleges the government had to take necessary measures to provide hostel facilities. That too hasn’t been done. Thirdly, for rural student’s government bus service is crucial to get education as it is very expensive to get private transport or to use private busses. AIDSO condemns the government and demands that immediate measures be taken to solve these issues.”