AGENCY
NEW DELHI, May 22
Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday visited Delhi University’s North Campus to interact with students from Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Other Backward Class (OBC) communities, focusing on issues of representation and education policy among other student related issues.
Engaging with the students, Gandhi highlighted the importance of democratic participation and inclusive academic spaces and also encouraged the students of the university to learn from father of the Constitution Dr B R Ambedkar and take inspiration from his message ‘Educate, Agitate and organize’.
He expressed concern over the lack of representation of underprivileged classes in top multinational companies and corporate appointments.
The students raised concerns over caste-based discrimination, lack of representation of marginalized communities in faculty positions and top administrative posts, and their “exclusion” from hiring in top multinational corporations. Moreover, the students also discussed with the LoP the lack of representation of deprived sections in top MNCs and corporate hiring.
Additionally, overweightage of SEC (Skill Enhancement Courses), VAC (Value Addition Courses) under the National Education Policy (NEP), giving disproportionate authority to faculty members, the unjust marking of ER (Essential Repeat), NA (Not Available), and Absent statuses, affecting thousands of students unfairly were also discussed during the interaction, they pointed out.
Listening to the students, the Congress leaders stressed the need for a better, equitable, and accountable education system.
After the interaction, DUSU President Ronak Khatri thanked Rahul Gandhi, saying his visit “energised the student community and reaffirmed the importance of youth voices in shaping India’s democratic and educational future”.
Notably, last week, Rahul Gandhi met students at an Ambedkar hostel in Bihar’s Darbhanga district as part of his ‘Shiksha Nyay Samvad’. The event, held without official permission, led to the registration of two FIRs against Rahul Gandhi and more than 100 Congress workers.
