JNU hostel fee hike: Overwhelming support from over 150 institutes for battle against fee hike, says JNUSU

Facing an intense agitation for over two weeks, the JNU administration partially rolled back the hostel fee hike for BPL (below poverty line) students not availing any scholarship on Wednesday. (Reuters)

The JNUSU on Thursday said it has received an “overwhelming support” from more than 150 universities and institutes across the world in its battle against the hostel fee hike. Following protests from the students’ union, the administration partially rolled back the hostel fee hike on Wednesday and also removed the clauses pertaining to a dress code and curfew timings from the Draft Hostel Manual.

In a statement on Thursday, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) said “the ongoing struggle to safeguard public education has received overwhelming support and solidarity” from over 2,000 members of the academic community, currently placed in more than 150 universities and institutes around the world. “Members of the academic community from Asia, Africa, North America, Europe and Australia have extended their solidarity to JNUSU and the entire JNU students community,” it said, adding that its battle against the hostel manual will continue.

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Facing an intense agitation for over two weeks, the JNU administration partially rolled back the hostel fee hike for BPL (below poverty line) students not availing any scholarship on Wednesday, a move that failed to satisfy the protesting students, who dubbed it as an “eyewash” and decided to continue with the strike.