Hyderabad: Hundreds of engineering students from various colleges who were detained in their first year staged a protest at the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University on Monday. The students were demanding that the university conduct a supplementary exam for them.
Police took 16 students into preventive custody. The students are planning a protest march on Tuesday. Around 14,000 first-year students were detained after the JNTU made it mandatory for students to clear at least 50 per cent of the 56 credits.
Students failing to get 28 credits are detained and there is no supplementary exam option. This costs them a year, and they have to pay the fee for that year,
On Monday there were rumours that some students had attempted suicide.
There was, however, one report of a first year student from St Martin's Engineering College who attempted suicide but was dissuaded by his friends.
A first year student at a private engineering college said they should be given one chance. “If we do not clear it, we can be detained. There is a lot of stigma associated with being detained,” he said.
M, Krishank, Osmania University JAC leader, who led protests outside JNTU said the university should give students a second chance.
