Students Protest at Sadiya College Over Commerce Dept Neglect and Rising Fees

Students of the Commerce Department of Sadiya College on Friday staged a protest, accusing the authorities of neglect and discriminatory treatment of their department, while demanding justice for both students and teachers.

The protesters alleged that despite being established in 2007, the Commerce Department is yet to be provincialised, even as the Arts and Science streams of the same college have already been brought under the provincialisation framework. Terming this as step-motherly treatment, the students demanded immediate government intervention.

Sadiya College, the only institution of higher education in the region, has allegedly been burdening students with steadily increasing annual fees, the protesters claimed. Many students have reportedly been forced to drop out midway due to their inability to afford the rising costs of education.

Adding to their grievances, students alleged that despite paying high fees, they are being deprived of basic academic facilities. Shockingly, they claimed that even after collecting lakhs of rupees annually from nearly 300 Commerce students, the department continues to function with only a handful of teachers, who are not being paid fair remuneration.

The lack of proper wages, students said, has pushed several teachers into financial distress, directly affecting the quality of education. Protesters warned that if the situation continues, the Commerce Department may be forced towards closure, jeopardising the future of hundreds of students.

Raising slogans and holding placards, the students demanded immediate provincialisation of the Commerce Department, fair wages for teachers, and an end to what they described as systemic neglect of commerce education at Sadiya College.

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