The Congress party's student wing, the National Students of India (NSUI) held a protest march on Friday demanding complete vaccination of students against COVID-19 before opening educational institutions and conducting any examinations, and relief packages for them.
The NSUI was protesting against the lack of a vaccination policy for students.
Protesters demanded that the government should announce a proper vaccination policy and relief package for students so that they can go back to campus and also appear for exams.
The NSUI led a protest March from its head office in New Delhi to the Parliament building under the leadership of NSUI National President Neeraj Kundan.
Other key demands of the protest included safely conducting the examinations, compensating for the lost academic year of the students and focusing on the future course.
Another agenda of the protest was to highlight the failure of the Narendra Modi government by not declaring any relief packages for the students' fraternity even after 1.5 years of the pandemic has passed.
He claimed that the central government made fake promises leaving the students in a confused and helpless state.
"The central government has totally turned a blind eye towards the students and even after NSUI's regular efforts to draw the government's attention towards all the crucial issues related to the students, the Modi government was insensitive as usual. After the second covid wave there was a lesson to be learnt for the central government but no essential steps have been taken yet," said Kundan.
He further added, "There are still a lot of students who have not been vaccinated and will soon appear in various examinations which will put them at the risk of getting infected. This situation is resulting in the demand of postponing of the exams, and postponement is certainly not a permanent solution to the problem."
"The only permanent solution is to prioritise students for vaccination so that they can continue their studies in a safe and secure environment. Students are a crucial part of the society and the future of this country, hence their issues are as important as any other issue to be discussed in the Parliament," said the NSUI national president seeking a discussion on the students' future in the Monsoon session of the parliament.
As the NSUI protesters marched towards the parliament building, the police tried to stop them through barricading, where slogans like "chatra (students) virodhi-Narendra Modi" were raised.
NSUI's protest march also intended to convey a message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi government as well as the elected members of the parliament, that issues related to the students and their vaccination must be discussed in the house.
( With inputs from ANI )
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