Students8217; protest of patience

MUMBAI, MARCH 12: A once-white poster of protest flutters on a small make-shift shelter in a corner of dusty Azad Maidan. The poster, now...

MUMBAI, MARCH 12: A once-white poster of protest flutters on a small make-shift shelter in a corner of dusty Azad Maidan. The poster, now a dirtied brown, is all that the 24 students from Gajanan Maharaj College, a bogus DEd Diploma in Education institute in Buldhana, have to show for 38 days of their struggle in an alien city.

Duped by the callous institute director, cheated out of their family8217;s hard-earned money, the students came to Mumbai a month ago in search of justice. Three of the students even attempted suicide by swallowing poison. The suicide attempts and countless assurances later, the 10 girls and 14 boys simply refuse to leave their ramshackle outpost without finding a solution.

Living in an open-air tent in one corner of the ground, managing just about one meal a day with their meagre finances, the students lament that the government has done nothing for them so far. 8220;Every time we meet the ministers, they say they8217;ll take care of the matter,8221; says Pradeep Bahanur, one of thestudents.

But that there has been no action is obvious from what students have to say. 8220;Two days ago, the institute8217;s director S S Kale visited us here, and told us he was on our side and we should support him!8221; adds Atul Thackeray. There have been no arrests, and no guarantees either that the students will be repaid the Rs 17,000 each one of them shelled out for admission.

The students however want more than just the Rs 17,000. 8220;We spent more than that, about Rs 50,000-60,000, on our uniforms, text books, staying expenses8230;.who will give us back that much money?8221; asks Atul.

The shame and embarrassment of not being teachers anymore has glued them to Mumbai. And to suffer all the woes of urban living. 8220;When we came here, we had around Rs 2,000 altogether. All that is gone now,8221; says Pradeep. They now have to cut short on all their expenses. 8220;The rule is to have only one meal a day from the nearby zunkha bhakar kendra,8221; says Asha Salwe. Evening five8217;o8217;clock has been fixed as the preciousmeal-time, and all of them go hungry till then. That one meal costs them Rs seven per person, which they can ill-afford. And of course, they cannot ask their families for money.

Says Prakash Rathod, 8220;My father sold off our fields to pay my admission fees. My family keeps asking me to come back, but how can I go, what will I tell them?8221;

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So, with a shaking roof over their heads, and a barrage of woes, the students face life head-on. 8220;There is no water here,8221; says Prakash, adding, 8220;We depend on the tanker, but then policemen chase us off.8221; For the girls, it8217;s an even bigger problem. 8220;We have to use the bathrooms at the police station and the officers keep screaming at us,8221; Asha says.

But nothing will make them give up. Atul even manages to threaten the government: 8220;If they don8217;t do anything for us in 15 days, all of us will commit suicide in front of the Mantralaya.8221;

The education department however, has washed its hands off the affair. 8220;The students should have known before itself that it isa bogus institute as admissions to DEd courses are always centralised,8221; is all Minister of State for Education Anil Deshmukh has to say. Also, as it is a case of cheating, 8220;It is up to the police to take some action now,8221; he adds.