Members of the left-inclined All India Students' Association (AISA) staged a protest against the lack of infrastructure and faculty members in the department and demanded immediate reduction in the fee structure
Amid students' protests over "high fee" and "fewer facilities", Delhi University's School of Journalism was inaugurated by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday.
Members of the left-inclined All India Students' Association (AISA) staged a protest against the lack of infrastructure and faculty members in the department and demanded immediate reduction in the fee structure, which is more than Rs 75,000 per year and adds up to Rs 4 lakh for the entire course.
"Isn't it strange that you are spending 4 lakh for just a course, leave alone the rent and all other expenses and you don't even have the infrastructure, labs,studios,library or even permanent teachers? This is such a huge scam going on at DU and it needs to exposed," said Kawalpreet Kaur, Chief, AISA, DU.
"The hollowness of the self-financed model stands exposed clearly. We believe that this is a big step in pushing the agenda of privatisation of public-funded education,"she said.
Besides, members of the Congress-backed National Students' Union of India (NSUI) also staged a protest and demanded a roll-back of the fee structure. "We demand an immediate roll back of this attempt of privatisation of public universities under the guise of self financing," said Akshay Lakra, president, NSUI, DU.
Meanwhile, Naidu addressed the faculty members and students and called journalism the "mirror of the society". It is a unique vocation. It is a vocation to serve the society. It is the fourth pillar of our Constitution and the watchdog of democracy," he said.
Advising students against the vices of sensationalism and paid news evident in the profession, he said: "Sensationalism rules the roost now. It should never prevail over truth. What is advertisement, advertorial, an editorial, it is hard to tell now… One should never compromise on the core values of journalism of objectivity, of being unbiased, artistic, rational and strong.
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