Hyderabad: Apart from installing a few CCTV cameras, universities in the city have not implemented any of the guidelines mentioned in UGC’s “Guidelines on Safety of Students on and off Campuses of Higher Educational Institutions”.
Some of the guidelines include biometric marking of attendance in colleges as well as hostels, metal detectors and armed guards at entry/exit points of hostels, self defence training for women on campus, setting up of university police station, installing emergency notification system and tall compound walls with barbed wires. While universities are keen on some of the measures, paucity of funds has left them incapable of implementing them.
A senior official of the UoH said, “The UGC has given guidelines but where is the money? We are not even receiving the annual funds properly, which is required for basic expenditure like salaries. Last year we got Rs 4.5 crore less than what we had asked for and we somehow managed to fill the gap with our own funds.”
It is the same situation with other universities too, which are also facing a fund crunch. However, students are happy about the guidelines not being implemented.
One of the students from OU’s Engineering College said, “I hope the guidelines are not implemented soon. The UGC guidelines for safety are an overdrive of rules and regulations which, if implemented, will make the live of students on campus annoying and uncomfortable. It will curtail the fun quotient that is usually associated with university.”
