Underlying the protests by women students of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) is one statistic that has largely gone unnoticed — a 131 per cent increase over 10 years in the number of women admitted to the 100-year-old university. And the rising aspirations of young women drawn from across the country — many from small towns — who have come here to seize their dreams. The Indian Express spoke to several of them to find out why official apathy and discrimination have touched off rage. Policemen standing guard, Botany undergraduate Sweety Kumari set out Tuesday for home in Jabalpur. Wearing a T-shirt, leggings and a scarf, Sweety said: “I will be the first graduate in my family, the first who stepped out of Jabalpur. My father runs a clothing store, my brothers assist him.” “I was allowed to come here and study only because my family felt this was the safest campus in the country for girls. After this incident, I have been hoping for only one thing: my Dadi should not call me back. Luckily, my parents have been very supportive. I am going home now. I will return to college after the Dussehra holiday,” she said as she hopped on to a rickshaw to head to the railway station. There are many Sweety Kumaris for whom BHU is the “second home.” University records show that in the last ten years, the campus has seen a 131 per cent increase in women admission, much more than the 78 per cent rise in men’s admission. In 2007-2008, BHU admitted 7,754 women and 13,282 men across courses and in its four affiliated institutions. Last year, 17,950 women and 23,665 men were enrolled. University administration officials attribute this rise to the start of a co-ed undergraduate programme in the faculties of Arts and Social Sciences which was earlier male-only, three women’s colleges affiliated to BHU for grant of degrees, other courses opened to women and increase in hostel accommodation which now house approximately 10,000 women. And, of course, the national trend of more and more girls moving on to college. One of the registrars said the strength of women applicants for undergraduate, post graduate, medical sciences and research programmes has been increasing every year. He said this trend began in the mid-1990s when parents and guardians began demanding hostel accommodation for women students from neighbouring states like Bihar. “With time, female-only courses and colleges were started along with good hostel accommodation. Students not just from nearby states but also states in the North-East and South began opting for BHU. Most students are those whose parents feel that BHU is a safe haven for their daughters and they are distrustful of political disturbances in JNU and DU,” the registrar said. “But this fiasco has changed everything. It will certainly impact admissions next year, especially applications from women. Parents will be very scared,” the registrar added. A third-year student from Ranchi has reasons to be worried. She is not returning home despite informal orders to vacate hostels. “I can’t keep going home because I had fought and come here to study. I had filled a form secretly, and got my course. My family does not understand me. Ranchi is stifling. Here, I have freedom to move and dress, I can freely build my future. I plan to complete my master’s degree. Let us see what I do after that.” Women students are upset over restrictions on their freedoms while men students roam the campus freely. The protests, they say, was “a result of the anger we have been bottling within”. This, despite the count of women increasing on the campus. “Can’t you see and feel it? Women are more visible than men on the BHU campus,” the registrar said.
