The students of Agriculture and Forestry University in Rampur, Chitwan, have started a protest. The students started protesting that they are trying to conduct the entrance examination of the graduate level in an unfair manner in the university.
Student organizations close to various political parties have locked the university's central office, agriculture faculty, administration, dean's office, etc. All Nepal National Free Students Union (ANNFSU), NSU, Akhil Krantikari, and All Nepal National Free Students Union (6th) issued a joint statement and demanded to solve the problems within the university.
Stating that all the organizations working in the university are united against the various conditions and anomalies prevalent in the university, they have put forward 21 points of demand. They said that the revised notice published by the Faculty of Agriculture, Dean's Office, ignoring the demands clearly stated by the students in the discussion between the discussion committee of the Faculty of Agriculture and the student representatives, did not address their demands. They demand that the entire process of admission should be stopped immediately.
Similarly, they have put forward the demand that the teaching should be according to the schedule and the situation where the students have to call for classes should be ended, all the experimental classes in the curriculum should be done, the dilapidated physical structure should be repaired immediately and the incomplete physical structure should be repaired immediately.
They have warned that if the demands put forward by them are not addressed as soon as possible, they will be presented strictly. Bikram Khanal, President of the Independent Central Campus Committee, said that a notice has been issued to implement the unprepared curriculum.
On the 29th of Kartik, the Faculty of Agriculture opened applications for new admissions. It is said that studies will be conducted according to the new curriculum. While the new curriculum has not been prepared, he said. Similarly, the minimum qualification required for that has also been reduced. At the certificate level, at least 50% should have been obtained in each subject. However, now it has been reduced to 45 percent. On the other hand, 2.4 should have been brought to the GPI first, but now it has been reduced to 2.2 GPI.
He said that the entrance fee is also very expensive. He said that the entrance fee of the university is 4 thousand rupees. The students have demanded that the system of integrated entrance examination (Common Entrance) should be applied to the agricultural university as well.
They allege that this percentage was reduced when there was a shortage of students in private colleges and the intention was to make more students pass. The mandatory condition of the subjects that are required to study agriculture at the graduate level for the entrance examination has also been removed.
There is a provision that students who have not studied English, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics and Physics, which are required to study agriculture in the entrance examination, can be admitted by removing them. It has been mentioned in the notification that the subject will be studied after the student is enrolled. Students are worried that this will destroy the quality of agricultural studies. For this, Chairman Khanal said that they have put forward the demand that the exam should be conducted according to the previous standards.
Agriculture, Animal Science, Forestry and Fish Science faculties are currently taught under the Agricultural University. For that, there are 7 affiliated and 7 affiliated colleges across the country. Currently, more than 1,800 students are studying.
